60 Seconds with Malcolm Craighead

02 December 2016

This month’s 60 Seconds with NQA Assessor Malcolm Craighead mentions that his most memorable audit moment was when he walked through the company reception and noticed that the Williams F1 car was there.

What standards do you audit?

ISO 9001 (Quality Management) ISO 14001 (Environment Management) and OHSAS 18001 (Health and Safety Management)

Most memorable auditing moment

Auditing a lubrication company within Cosworth engines to OHSAS 18001, as I noticed that the Williams F1 car was in reception along with all the trophies Michael Schumacher had won with the original Benetton team. The manufacturing department appeared cleaner than an operating theatre and so quiet. At the end of the audit, I was taken into the test lab to watch an engine being put through its paces in the test lab with the setting / conditions as they would encounter in Brazil. A fantastic experience!

Most common NCR encountered

I would say the most common NCR encountered, is probably document control. People tend to keep forms on their desktop instead of going onto the intranet to download the latest issue. This leads to incorrect forms being used and no control over the forms which could lead to repeat issues not being resolved as the correct form updated to resolve an issue will not be used if people use the old ones.

Greatest client benefit gained from an ISO system

If an ISO system is run well, this system will generate a large amount of information, which if used properly should drive continual improvement and reduced costs. Convert information into graphs to show the employees that their efforts are working and they can see it graphically.

Top tip for getting the most from your management system

Ensure all employees are fully aware of their roles and input into the system. If employees are not fully aware of their roles, then customer complaints breaches of legislation and high wastage can occur.