What is ISO9001 and why is it important?

ISO9001 is an international Standard that specifies the requirements for a Quality Management System (QMS). It is ISO’s most popular standard, being implemented by more than one million companies in over 175 countries.

As part of the controls within standard procurement processes, some businesses state that they will only do business with vendors that are certified as ISO9001 compliant.

Many of our clients turn to this Standard as a way of demonstrating to Regulators, insurers, current or prospective clients a commitment to meet the regulatory requirements and apply the requirements of the Standard for the benefit of customers.

Working towards, and maintaining the ISO9001 certification, can help to win or retain clients, reduce errors and omissions, and to build continuous improvement and efficiencies into the business practice.

In order to achieve, and maintain, ISO 9001 certification it is essential the business objectives are clearly defined, and the benefits gained by achieving certification are identified and communicated. Staff must also receive training to ensure that they know what is expected of them and where their responsibilities lie. This must be underpinned by a documented Quality Management System (QMS) together with the policies and procedures required by ISO9001.

Where processes go wrong, there must also be a process to identify where the issue occurred, to fix the issue, and to consider opportunities for improvement to help prevent reoccurrence. This must be supported by regular auditing, on a planned basis, with appropriate record keeping and follow up activities.

The firms we work with benefit from the breadth of skills across our highly experienced team who have either implemented, or maintained, the ISO9001 Standard as part of in house compliance roles or have assisted firms of all sizes, across the country, through the ISO9001 certification maintenance process.

ISO9001 audit assistance

External certification, surveillance and recertification audits are required in order to obtain or maintain certification to ISO9001. We assist clients during their external certification audit (on or off site), to provide additional capacity and expertise with the aim of helping to alleviate pressures during the audit with the aim of a positive overall audit experience.

We work with clients of all sizes to help maintain ISO9001 by conducting internal audits against the requirements of the Standard, producing a report of any minor or major non conformities identified, as well as recommendations for best practice activities.

ISO9001 training and awareness

We also support our clients in delivering face to face, or webinar based, training to increase awareness of the general principles of ISO9001, or to highlight requirements within specific procedures or processes.

Where ISO9001 meets Lexcel…

The requirements of ISO9001 are closely aligned with those of the Law Society’s practice management standard, Lexcel. Where clients have both ISO9001 and Lexcel in place, we can assist in combining the Management System and documentation and auditing schedule to help reduce the administrative burden and confusion which this can cause.