Our best kept secrets to getting more value out of your ISO auditor

Organisations seeking certification of their ISO management system are required to undergo regular audits. After each audit cycle, it is important for top level management to review the auditor’s report and act on or commit to any recommendations – this will help the organisation keep with current best practices and ensure compliance with the requirements of the relevant standard.

Another major factor to consider is whether your organisation’s ISO management system is living and breathing… In other words, is everyone complying with your documented policies and procedures? The auditor’s report will remain impartial, further, it will play a huge part of your systems long term success.

Part of the audit will be spent looking at how you are progressing to meet your business objectives. You can come away from your audit at the end with fresh knowledge of new objectives to aim for and how you can achieve these.

Do you have an external audit approaching? We can help your organisation achieve audit success; avoiding costly and time consuming failed external audits. Call ISOsafe today on 1300 789 132.

Are you fearing siloing in your rapidly growing business? Visual Management Boards might be the answer!

Visual management boards are communication tools in a lean environment. They give workers information at a glance. There are several types of visual management boards, including boards for continuous improvement, project status, safety notices, and point-of-use tools.

When developing a visual management board for any workplace, we need to focus on simplicity. Typically the focus is on depicting vital measurements/information and displaying them so that information is:

Consistent - all boards throughout the organisation are similar with minimal variation only as processes require it.

Easy to understand by all – all levels of the organisation use this system to get a quick sense of the performance of a production cell/line, team or department.

Visible from at least 40 feet – the use of colours is very helpful, here. Colours of green for hitting or exceeding a goal / target and red for a miss.

Metrics to consider for a visual management board include:

a. People – Safety (any injuries), absenteeism (who’s here so we know what to work with)

b. Quality – Scrap, defects and re-work

c. Schedule – On track or not

d. Cost – Usually productivity but could be efficiency as well

e. Environment – 5S, waste reduction, environmental impacts and aspects.

How do you determine what to show on your visual management boards? Let’s break it down in some logical steps. Think about an employee, guest, supplier or corporate visitor walking into your work environment to their respective “work” area. What information do they need to see? Of course, the answer depends on your industry and what is important at your work environment but let me present a few ideas that you can consider.

As we first walk into a work environment there should be some high-level data points that will help us understand what our company and site values are and how we are performing against them. Most businesses should focus on People, Quality, Environment, Schedule and Cost. Given that those things are important to most of us we would expect to see high-level indications of the workplace’s position on them. These indications should not be too data-intense at this level.

As we move through the work environment the level of information should become more focused and relevant to the functions occurring in that area. We can still have the high level indicators but we will usually make them specific to the production cell/line, team or department.

As we move to the functional level work areas we will see yet a deeper, more focused level of information posted on the visual management boards. This information will speak to the daily or weekly planned work for that function. It will also include information on tasks that have come up that were not planned. This information will be the focus of the shift meeting. The area leader will review this information with the area employees to ensure alignment on what work is to be done. Again, there will be additional information that is relevant to that area. This could be the status of the training objectives. In some cases it could be information about continuous improvement projects in that area.

Of course the most important thing about using a visual management board is how it’s used. A successful implementation would be when production teams use them effectively as a vehicle to understand gaps in performance and address these with actions to right the ship and achieve their targets. The board should be as user-specific as possible, meaning that the people responsible for the process line/cell, team or department are the same people actually maintaining the visual management boards. It tends to build a sense of emotion behind the numbers; think of having to colour red two or three days in a row and what emotions are felt with a supervisor or within a team.

So what should you do to create or improve your visual management process? Use value stream mapping to truly understand where your bottlenecks are. Engage all of your employees in continuous improvement to relieve those bottlenecks. Develop focused key performance indicators that help measure the results and use visual management boards to communicate and align your organisation.

To get help with your Visual Management System project contact us today on 1300 789 132.

How To Deal With Dissatisfied Customers

Did you know that 90% of customers are likely to abandon a good or service provider after experiencing poor customer service?

To make matters worse, each dissatisfied customer will tell 10 other people about their poor experience

In Australia, many customers simply do not bother to complain. In fact, studies suggest that for every customer complaint, there are 26 other unhappy customers who remain silent

All this could be very damaging to sales and a business’ brand

Little known facts about customer experience:
•    Dissatisfied customers whose complaints are taken care of are more likely to remain loyal, and even become advocates
•    It costs 6 to 7 times more to acquire a new customer than retaining an existing one
•    A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%
•    The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 – 70%. The probability of selling to a new prospect is 5-20%

It is estimated that 60% of all small and medium businesses do not have a formal procedure in place for dealing with customer complaints. Maybe they don’t have many complaints, or take the view that they will deal with them as they occur?

One of the many benefits of implementing an ISO9001 Quality Management System is that it puts Customer Satisfaction at the heart of your business’ operations. ISO 9001 requires that you put strategies and processes in place to manage customer satisfaction, and by definition reduce customer dissatisfaction

As part of any Quality Management System, here is a simple list of things which you could consider:
•    Context - are you a B2B business where handling of customers may be very different to a retail B2C environment. You might have Account Managers for key customers for example
•    Communication - a key customer satisfaction issue and response. You might receive a formal complaint or negative feedback directly or increasingly via social media if your business has a presence
•    Leadership - the strategy, culture and resources need to be driven from the top of the organisation. Clear policies on Quality, customer satisfaction and issues like returns will help
•    Resources - looking into the root cause of issues might find that a lack of resource, components or competence exists. There might be a need for you to look into the infrastructure of the business, your human resources, manufacturing capability and training regimes

While each organisation will deal with customer satisfaction in their own way, a Quality Management System (QMS) will provide the necessary framework. It provides a Standard of business activity to adhere to, which if implemented, helps meet customer expectations and supports continuous improvement. To find out more about ISO 9001, contact ISOsafe today on 1300 789 132
 

World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2017

At ISOsafe, we are committed to helping Australian businesses provide their staff with safe and compliant workplaces

Friday 28 April 2017 we recognise World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Workers’ Memorial Day - a day to think about how our actions can prevent future work-related deaths, injuries and illnesses, and a day to remember those that have died from a work-related injury or illness

By raising awareness of work health and safety and taking action we can help prevent further injuries and death

On 28 April, ISOsafe encourage employers and business owners to take the lead in workplace health and safety by:
• practicing good work health and safety
• honouring the memory of those who have died at work and stopping for a moment of silence
• promoting World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Workers’ Memorial Day in your workplace
• organise a morning or afternoon tea to talk about work health and safety
• display promotional posters in your workplace
• arrange for a safety expert to speak at your workplace – contact ISOsafe for a fast, free quote on 1300 789 132
• attend a local workers’ memorial event with your colleagues or family

You can also use #worldWHSday2017 when participating in World Day discussions on social media

State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA) Update - Business owner admits offence

A Hunter hospitality provider ran afoul of the law when she realised her public liability insurance did not cover her workers compensation liabilities.

She rang SIRA and explained her predicament, having been misled by the broker she used and trusted when she set up her business five years prior.

The business had been uninsured for a substantial period of time in a high-risk industry which recorded more than 18,000 injuries, more than 250 permanent disabilities and eight deaths in the past three years.

Sarina Tranter, Director of SIRA Compliance, Enforcement and Investigation, said SIRA dealt seriously with uninsured employers who avoided premiums to obtain a commercial advantage over other businesses.

“NSW has a safety net for workers in the event they are injured and their employer is uninsured,” Tranter said.

“The uninsured worker can make a claim through icare’s uninsured liability section. And while normal benefits apply to these claims, there are heavy penalties for employers. In addition the employer is liable for the cost of the claim.”

The hospitality provider faced the prospect of paying double premiums for up to five years, a fine of up to $55,000 and/or imprisonment for up to six months.

In determining appropriate enforcement action, SIRA’s investigators considered mitigating factors including the employer’s self-disclosure, cooperation and remorse, and ordered her to pay a more lenient three-year ‘avoided premium penalty’ of $18,000.

SIRA’s investigators also contacted the broker involved and reiterated the broker’s obligation to provide legally sound advice.

Workers compensation is required by law under section 155 of the Workers Compensation Act 1987.

SIRA’s Compliance, Enforcement and Investigations team identifies uninsured NSW employers, which often becomes apparent when an employee is injured.

The unit also leads projects targeting high risk industries to make sure employers are aware of their obligations under the Act so they can avoid penalties.

Workers compensation, return-to-work and injury management is complicated at the best of times, if you are unsure about your duties as a manager or business owner contact us today on 1300 789 132 for expert advice.