Achieving ISO 9001 certification can unlock opportunities when it comes to doing major public sector projects and building client confidence. However, the process of obtaining and retaining said certification can be challenging due to the level of detail expected from the third-party auditors.
Managing Director of Risk and Safety Solutions Chris Haddrill is an accredited auditor for ISO 9001 certification. According to Haddrill, using a digital project management platform reduces the amount of paperwork required to manage details like program and safety frees so that builders have time to concentrate on quality.
“The average site manager has hundreds of issues to concentrate on and may have around 300 people on site,” says Haddrill.
That is a lot of moving parts to keep track of. That’s why automating key administrative processes and having real-time oversight and actionability makes all the difference.
Procore’s new Safety Essentials package, for example, not only helps improve safety but also assists with ISO accreditation. Since it allows the builder to check licenses, complete HESQ checklists, inspection checklists, and document everything, they can demonstrate due diligence to regulators and ISO auditors easily, Haddrill says.
How it Works for Dasco Australia
Using the Procore platform as a fundamental part of the construction business has made certification much easier, according to Hass McCook, Systems Implementation Manager for residential builder Dasco Australia (DASCO).
“ISO 9001:2015 lets you tailor your quality system to the culture of the company. Procore, on the other hand, allows us to tailor our company culture to their software system, giving us a nice closed loop for achieving our quality outcomes in our natural Dasco way.”
Identify Risks and Manage Them Effectively
This means, for instance, DASCO has been able to introduce additional inspections for works with a high risk of defects.
“One of the biggest risks is waterproofing quality and record-keeping,” McCook says. “We came up with Procore-based inspections and forms that include photos and cataloguing of inspections, turning a very painful and manual process into a few clicks on the iPad or phone.”
High-risk trades, such as services rough-ins ahead of gyprock installation, are also part of the quality management inspection system.
“We have a target number of inspections we want done… and at any stage, the project manager can verify through the Procore system if those targets have been met.”
Digital Documentation for Evidence of Quality
The ability to catalogue time and date-stamped photographic evidence of works and information regarding what device captured the photo and who logged it into the Procore system “equates to independent oversight,” McCook explains.
These practices are all part of how DASCO maintains its ISO 9001 certification, a third-party audited assessment of quality management systems.
Systems to Support Continuous Improvement
The 2015 iteration of the standard takes a risk-based approach to quality systems. It starts with defining and creating a risk register, and many of the quality performance indicators and processes tied to those risks.
The certification is not a set-and-forget credential. Maintaining it requires annual third-party audits to ensure quality benchmarks were met, improvement plans were followed through, and clear goals for continuous improvement have been set.
Auditing Made Easier
The most recent audit to renew their ISO 9001:2015 certification took place entirely remotely within a strict COVID-19 environment, something McCook said would not have been possible without the Procore platform.
“We give the auditors a log-in and a password, and everything is there for them. No physical paperwork required.”
That includes all the needed documents, such as inspection records which are held in the Procore document store.
“As we move through, if they want to look at a KPI around brickwork inspections, for example, we filter via the relevant template, and all the inspections are there,” says McCook. “Non-compliance [with our quality management plan] sticks out immediately.”
Procore also enables the team to monitor compliance between audits through checking their customised dashboards in Procore.
“We can keep ourselves on track.”
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