County Galway-based companies Ability West and the Coffey Group were among the 49 private and public sector organisations receiving awards last week from the Minister of State for Small Business, Mr John Perry T.D. The County Galway based companies joined the likes of the international telecommunications company Vodafone and the state’s Forensic Science Laboratory in achieving certified levels of excellence under a range of headings.
Ability West received the Excellence Through People standard at the certification morning, whilst the Coffey Group received certification in Quality Management (ISO 9001 ), Environmental Management (ISO 14001 ) and Health & Safety Management (OHSAS 18001 ).
The Minister joined the CEO of the National Standards Authority of Ireland to present the awards and to recognise the importance of standards in today’s competitive climate.
“Standards are vital in the current economic climate, particularly for SMEs,” the Minister said. “Implementing standards in business can help to reduce the resources spent on research and development, and to effectively allocate resources in the toughest of times and improve their ability to innovate.”
Among the companies present at the event were Electric Ireland and the Dublin Simon Community, who both received ‘Excellence Through People’ certification, and global telecommunications giant Vodafone, which received the new Customer Contact Centre standard (I.S. EN 15838 ). Speaking at the presentations, Maurice Buckley, CEO NSAI highlighted the real business value of achieving certified standards:
“There is a return on investment from implementing standards. The companies present today confirm that; they are leading companies from various industries and sectors, both public sector and private sector, and they would not be spending time and resources on achieving these standards unless they knew they had real value in the market. And we are seeing a growing trend of European and international customers who expect such certified standards as entry level for doing business with them.
The standards awarded were:
Quality Management Systems (ISO 9001 );
Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001 );
Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems (OHSAS 18001 );
Excellence Through People;
Customer Contact Centre Standard (I.S. EN 15838 );
The NSAI Agrément Thermal Modeller Scheme.
NSAI invites members of the business community and the general public to get involved in the development of standards by visiting Your Standards, Your Say on www.nsai.ie
Breda Crehan-Roche, Chief Executive of Ability West said: “This is an important milestone for Ability West and our staff. We are very committed to providing services of a high standard and quality to children and adults, with an intellectual disability. We continuously strive for excellence in all areas and achieving this award reinforces this commitment”.
Patrick Coffey, Managing Director of the Coffey Group said: “We are firmly committed to providing a Quality service, safely, and in manner which is respectful to the environment. Our Integrated Management System combines the requirements of ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001, and enables us to standardise our approach on all of our projects. This creates a platform for the company to measure, review and improve upon our performance in these key areas of our service delivery”.
