Use Software to Meet Your ISO 9001:2015 Requirements

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ISO 9001 is the most popular certification standard in the world. It outlines a framework for improving quality and a vocabulary of understanding for any organization looking to provide products and services that consistently meet the requirements and expectations of customers and other relevant parties in the most efficient manner possible. First published in 1987, the latest iteration, ISO 9001:2015, incorporates risk-based thinking, increased responsibilities for leadership, and a high-level structure that allows for easier certification of integrated management systems that include other standards like ISO 45001:2018 and ISO 14001:2015. 

ISO 9001:2015 can help organizations in many industries improve their processes, enhance customer satisfaction, and improve business results. In some industries, such as automotive, health sciences, and construction, certification is considered essential, if not mandatory, to compete effectively in the marketplace and to meet applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. In other areas, such as education, organizations have taken innovative approaches to using the guidance of ISO … Read more...

EHSQ, Enthusiasm and Engagement: Impressions from the Intelex 2019 Middle East Customer Forum

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The 2019 Middle East Customer Forum offered Intelex’s customers and partners in the region the opportunity to share their passion for EHSQ, impressing their hosts with their enthusiasm and innovative ideas.

One thing was very clear at Intelex’s 2019 Middle East Customer Forum held recently in Dubai: Intelex customers are focused on achieving and maintaining EHSQ excellence. Here are some takeaways from the forum and those in attendance…

“Health and safety is taken quite seriously by companies in the region from the top down; executive management in the Middle East considers the health and safety of its workers as a high priority,” said Roula Vrsic, Senior VP of Marketing at Intelex.

Vrsic also noted that a poll of attendees at the forum found that two-thirds of EHS professionals in attendance are directly involved in digital transformation strategies at their organizations. “That is significantly different than other regions in the … Read more...

World Quality Day 2019: Leading Quality for 100 Years

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World Quality Day – November 14 – provides a forum to reflect on how we can implement more effective processes and systems that positively impact KPIs and business results.

Each year, the second Thursday of November is set aside to reflect on the way quality management can contribute to our work and our lives. Led by the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) in the United Kingdom, World Quality Day provides a forum to reflect on how we can implement more effective processes and systems that positively impact KPIs and business results — and celebrate outcomes and new insights.

This year’s theme marks the centennial of the CQI’s efforts to grow and expand attention to quality across the United Kingdom and in Europe.

We usually think of quality as an operations function. The quality system (whether we have quality management software implemented or not) helps us keep track of the health and … Read more...

Performance and Why It Matters

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Improving safety performance is a team effort that is based on data that easily can be monitored and measured to prioritize where safety programs can have the most impact.  When it comes to improving performance in Health and Safety, this webinar, “Performance and Why It Matters,” sponsored by Intelex, explains why organizations must leverage their most important asset - their tools and data - to improve future H&S performance. 

Better tools and processes give workers the power to improve their performance through data-driven decision-making and enhanced situational awareness. The result is a stronger EHSQ practice that drives improved overall business results and revenue. Tomorrow’s businesses will rest on a strong foundation consisting of rigorous EHSQ performance, singular dedication to customer satisfaction, and a passion for innovation.   

You will hear from Kanwer Kahn, CSP, CRSP, QEP, P.E., who is Vice President, Environment, Health, Safety and Security for SUEZ North America. In his … Read more...

Shining Light on Dark Data

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What is dark data? It could be your organization’s greatest asset, if you know where to find it. We’ll tell you where.

There are insights about your business and EHSQ processes hiding in plain sight… if you know where to look.

Data that is collected — but never shared, mined, or leveraged to gain business insights — is called dark data. Every organization has dark data, which translates to missed opportunities for learning, insights, and performance improvement. Although it’s mostly discussed in the context of expanding the use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in industrial contexts, there is another

Since storage has become relatively inexpensive (particularly cloud storage), the challenge presented by dark data is growing. While much of dark data resides in enterprise data warehouses, and databases that support Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, there’s another source that is even more compelling: … Read more...

Intelex 2019 Middle East Customer Forum: The Future Is Now

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EHSQ leaders in the Middle East and Intelex innovators and partners met in Dubai to share best practices and opportunities for growth and innovation in 2020 and beyond.

Dubai is a melting pot; millions of people from different cultures, coming together to support a glowing city that has risen out of the desert like a phoenix. Everywhere you look, the city/state is expanding, from the world’s tallest building – the towering, twinkling Burj Khalifa, reaching 2,722 ft into the air – to the suburbs that are stretching out around the city to accommodate workers and their families who have come to Dubai to support the city’s main drivers: construction, energy and tourism.

Neil Berry, SVP and GM of Intelex’s UK office, welcomed over 100 attendees to the 2019 Middle East Customer Forum, telling them, “The future is continuous innovation.”

Berry quoted His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the vice … Read more...

Canadian Honey Producers Stung by Sophisticated Food Fraud

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Food fraud is big business. Criminal organizations around the world earn millions of dollars annually by cutting high-quality food products with cheaper substitutes to increase profits. The practice is so ubiquitous throughout the food industry that food protection agencies refer to it as economically motivated adulteration (EMA) The consequences of this practice can include reputational damage to respected food brands, public health crises resulting from adulteration using hazardous elements designed to avoid standard integrity testing, and financial damage to legitimate producers who can’t compete with cheaper adulterated products.  

According to a recent news story, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has been conducting targeted surveillance on international producers of adulterated honey entering the Canadian market since 2018. By analyzing 240 samples of imported honey, CFIA determined that one-fifth of the samples advertised as pure honey are adulterated with corn syrup, rice syrup, and cane sugar syrup. As a result of the inspection, … Read more...

Protecting the food supply chain from fraud and malicious attack

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Every few years, an intentional adulteration of the food supply grabs headlines around the world. In 2008, Chinese dairy manufacturers added the chemical melamine, a plasticizing agent, to milk and infant formula to boost the detectable protein levels, resulting in the hospitalization of 54,000 children and six deaths. The 2013 EU horse meat scandal, in which horse meat was substituted for beef in products sold across the EU, severely damaged consumer confidence in traceability and testing standards for meat products. Perhaps even more disturbing is the possibility of intentional contamination of the food supply to cause harm, a possibility that has gained more attention in the age of global terrorism. 

With the complexity of today’s international food supply chain, it is vital that the food industry move beyond food safety and quality approaches to incorporate food fraud—to protect against intentional contamination for economic gain—and food defence—to protect against intentional contamination to cause harm. … Read more...

Why the Human Factor is as Important as Your Technology

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In 1979, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) held a workshop at which it presented research demonstrating that the root cause of most aircraft accidents was human error and worker performance relating to poor critical thinking, lack of leadership, and miscommunication. The presentation was a response to the crash of United Airlines Flight 173 in Portland, Oregon in 1978, in which a landing gear problem forced the crew to circle the airport prior to landing. The captain focused on the landing gear problem for over an hour, missing frequent communications from his crew that the fuel supply was running low. The captain only realized his lack of situational awareness moments prior to the plane running out of fuel and crashing only a few miles short of the runway. Two crew members and eight passengers were killed. 

NASA therefore developed the practice of crew resource management (CRM). CRM addresses the human factor in teams … Read more...

How Ignoring the Voice of the Customer (VoC) Reduces Customer Safety

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Why women are less safe than men when driving 

A study at the University of Virginia, soon to be published in the academic journal Traffic Injury Prevention, has determined that women are at greater risk of injury or death in motor vehicle accidents because safety tests are conducted using crash test dummies that mimic the physiology only of men. 

According to the authors of the study, despite the fact that female physiology differs from that of males in areas such as distribution of muscle and fat, bone alignment, and features of the pelvis, most crash test dummies in use today are still based on male models from the 1960s. As a result, important factors such as how differences in breast tissue impact the effectiveness of the three-point seatbelt and how range of joint motion during menstruation makes females more susceptible to injury, are not widely considered in most automotive safety … Read more...