Westminster Group plc is pleased to announce that all its operating divisions have now achieved the new ISO 9001: 2008 certification which was published in November 2008.
Recognising the importance of quality systems to its international operations, Westminster appointed Equas SmartPro Ltd to undertake a strategic review of its various quality management systems throughout all the Group’s operating divisions with a view to bring its various systems in line and in-keeping with best practice. Equas SmartPro Ltd is a company with a first class reputation in the field of Quality Management Systems and has, to date, helped hundreds of organisations to achieve the ISO standard, both in the Public and Private sectors.
A major benefit for Westminster is that Equas SmartPro using its acclaimed ‘ISO in a Box’ methodology has developed an ISO9001 model specifically for the private security industry. Equas Consultant, Jonathan Lea explained: “The model was designed to help fast track security companies into the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS).
“When the Scheme was launched by the UK Government, one of the qualifying criteria was that any ISO9001:2008 system needed to be fully UKAS compliant. There are a lot of QMS consultants targeting the private security industry with spurious guarantees. However, ‘ISO in a Box’ does deliver that important UKAS requirement.”
Westminster embarked on updating its processes and procedures in October 2008 and the whole process has taken less than five months to complete.
Commenting on the acquisition Peter Fowler, Chief Executive of Westminster Group, said:
“I am delighted to we have now brought all our operating divisions in line with the latest good practice and I am sure our improved quality procedures will enhance our services throughout our worldwide operations.
I would also like to thank Jonathan Lea and Equas SmartPro Ltd, for a very professional and painless process indeed we have bee so impressed with the process we have now appointed Equas SmartPro Ltd to advise the Group on the implementation of ISO14001 environmental management systems which will be undertaken in Q3 this year”.