Hi All

I work for a local authority and as you can imagine we have a diverse number of sites and activities. One site in particular has decided that they are going for the ISO hat trick (quality, environment and health and safety). As an orgnaisation we do not have or plan to go for accreditation.

They are in the throws of writing their own health and safety "policy"

I was just wondering if anyone else has this experience, do they start from scratch and write their own policy - or can they just reference to the corporate one?

All help is greatly appreciated !!

Sound like a waste of public money to me and I'm in agreement with imw's post. If they have nothing better to do than submit themselves to audits of dubious value then maybe their jobs are ripe for reorganisation.

You have my sympathies, gumbley!

One of the reasons this can happen is down to client requirements (yep, LAs can have corporate clients too!) - for example if an LA roads department carries out surfacing or street lighting work for a private client they may well be required to have the relevant accreditation. If the roads dept thus can make a business case for gaining this accreditation there's no reason why this should mean the entire council has to join in.

I work for an organisation where our 14001 covers 30 of our 2,500 employees, and our 9001 covers 450. Supporting departments relevant to these management systems (mainly procurement, internal auditing and the corporate board) are of course included.

Our environmental and quality policies,though, are corporate - I agree completely with the other replies on this.

These policies don't go into the detail of how you do your work, they state your commitment to the principals you believe in so they really have to come from the top to have any hope of success.

I also question the requirement for any division of a LA to have ISO accreditation, but then times they are a-changing. Some LAs are now offering commercial services, particularly in the new technologies of green energy/sustainability. ISO route may make sense - I trust the Council's Chief Exec./Management Team are aware.

As for the Policy Statement itself: So long as the department you refer to are a part of the Council, then they are surely bound by its Policy Statement. Anything else is tantamount to anarchy.