Essex Cares achieves BS18001 accreditation
Oh what a brilliant start to Christmas, Essex Cares achieves the BS18001.
The Health & Safety department is small in number but is very progressive. We hold on to the ‘can do/will do’ philosophy of the company and promote sensible health & Safety, it’s rare for us to say no to any activity as long as it has been thought out, risk assessed and has the necessary controls in place.
Over the last year we have worked with many managers, admins and directors to ensure a recognised standard in Health and Safety for the company and we have learned many lessons on the way.
Essex Cares Ltd is still a relatively new company, the new kids on the block trying to compete with established providers and the BS 18001 accreditation sends out a very powerful message to our competitors. BS 18001 is a management system that allows the company to take control of its Health & Safety, develop its control measures, checks and audits and identifies responsibilities.
On December 23rd 2011 we undertook a 3day assessment with the British Standards Institute and were successful in our bid for the BS 18001 accreditation. I mentioned that we had learned many lessons and one of these was that the H&S department could not obtain the accreditation alone, it required the support of Mark Lloyd who was able to demonstrate his commitment towards H&S within ECL, the managers from every part of the business checking risk assessments, undertaking check lists, reviewing fire risk assessments or chasing staff to ensure that they have undertaken their H&S responsibilities. And then there were the administrators who were faxing, scanning or proving physical evidence of H&S within their sites/services. It’s been a mammoth task to gain the accreditation but is something that everyone can rightly be proud of, you own it, so well done to every one and thank you.
The challenge now is to continually develop our system, as required under the standard and for the directors to use the award for the betterment of the company. When ECL apply for tenders the BS18001 accreditation will provide the same level playing field as our competitors, giving us a better chance of winning tenders and securing employment for staff and the future of Essex Cares Ltd.
Marilyn Webb
Posted: Jan 10, 2012
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