Client challenge
Trident Medical Services is an occupational health expert for a range of organisations, specialising in supporting the high-risk and regulated industries. Many clients work in engineering, manufacturing, nuclear power, the oil and gas business, construction, aviation, healthcare, education and the emergency services. The company’s physicians include HSE (Health & Safety Executive) appointed doctors, UKOG-registered examining doctors, occupational health advisers and nurses with specialist occupational health qualifications and experience, all supported by highly experienced technicians. Organisations rely on Trident Medical Services for highly qualified, expert advice and the company is widely regarded with integrity.
Approaching recertification, and always striving to offer the best customer service, our client took the decision to become an early adopter of the revised ISO 9001:2015 quality management standard. Literally, as soon as it was drafted. The scope of the new ISO 9001:2015 standard covered all of our client’s business activities. This included the work of the head office team, employees at two large customer sites and the Assurance division, Trident Assurance Services.
Transition challenges
“We realised that many of our existing business management systems, whilst effective, had become quite complex and not process-based,” explains Brian Penfold, Assurance Director at Trident. “Focusing on risk-based thinking, we took the decision to restructure our business processes from the ground up to achieve the best results. This allowed us to review all processes to ensure they were still as effective as they needed to be.”
During the transition to the updated standard, Trident Medical Services had to maintain two different management system. This enabled the company to develop new process-based arrangements, while retaining original documentation. Both systems, running simultaneously, needed to be compliant with the 2008 standard, with one also working towards the 2015 standard.
You have to plan well in advance. Just performing a gap analysis is not enough. Organisations need to fully understand their existing system...
How we helped
Trident Medical services was keen to succeed first time with its assessment, requiring an extensive review of its processes and supporting documentation. Ahead of the curve, there was no guidance on how to interpret and implement the new standard. We supported initially with transition planning and preparation by:
- briefing the management team on the new ISO 9001:2015 requirements and the advantages of transitioning for the business
- providing training to key employees on the revised standard, changes to processes and their wider impacts
- giving an overview of ISO 9001:2015 to all remaining employees.
We then carried out assessment to ISO 9001:2015. “The first day of the assessment was our first chance to show our interpretation of the requirements and how we had implemented the standard,” adds Brian Penfold, Trident’s Assurance Director. “We were hugely relieved that we received no major or minor nonconformities. We had planned well and this was fantastic news.” Managing Director Fiona Penfold adds: “There were a couple of observations for improvement which we welcomed and acted upon.”
LRQA came to our premises to brief the management team on the new requirements of the standard.
Business benefits
Trident Medical Services can now confidently demonstrate its total commitment to offering the best possible service and improving customer satisfaction. This helps both with existing client relationships and to win new business.
Our client’s Board had always wanted to move towards a more integrated business management system. This has now been achieved by implementing ISO 9001:2015.
- Many processes are now part of a single system. For example, a single incident report can now be used regardless of the type of incident, whether it is a health and safety or a quality non-conformity incident. And the investigation process following a reported incident is unified.
- The improvement process is also shared, whether it is a change to maintained documentation or a process change request. This has been hugely beneficial, resulting in a more simplified process while meeting multiple standards.
We now have a systematic approach, underpinned by ISO 9001:2015, which means we have the effective processes in place to ensure...
