By James Bowyer, Director of Quality, Kingspan Insulation GB & IE
Upholding a culture of compliance is critical for everyone within the construction industry. For product manufacturers, this extends far beyond product development, testing and manufacture. It must apply to all aspects of their work – including how products are marketed and the technical support that customers receive – and requires active participation from all staff. To support organisations in developing and maintaining this culture, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has introduced a compliance management system standard – ISO 37301:2021 – enabling and verifying companies in delivering best practice in this area.
Setting the standard
ISO 37301 provides the guidelines and requirements for establishing, developing and continually improving a compliance management system. The standard replaces ISO 19600:2014, expanding on its requirements and placing a greater focus on a harmonised structure for management system standards.
Importantly, unlike the previous standard, ISO 37301 is a Type A management systems standard. This means that certification can be achieved by undergoing a conformity assessment through an independent third party. This provides a much greater level of assurance to specifiers that a certified manufacturer is maintaining a compliant culture.
The guidance is designed to be adaptable for companies of different sizes and contexts and covers a number of key principles considered essential for a compliance management system including:
- Integrity
- Governance
- Proportionality
- Transparency
- Accountability
- Sustainability
To demonstrate compliance, an organisation must go beyond simply integrating these core values within formal and informal business process. They must be fully embedded within its culture and the behaviour of its staff at every level.
In addition to ensuring compliance with legal requirements, the standard is also designed to help organisations meet and exceed the requirements of a range of voluntary standards covering various areas. For this reason, it has been developed to be easily implemented within Integrated Management Systems certified to other relevant standards, including ISO 9001:2015 (quality), ISO 14001:2015 (environment) and ISO 50001:2018 (energy). It can also contribute towards UN Sustainable Development Goals – number 8 (decent work and economic growth), number 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and number 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions).
Achieving certification
The assessment process for ISO 37301 is rigorous and must be applied not only to production sites, but across the entire business, separated into six core areas:
- Leadership
- Planning
- Support
- Operation
- Performance evaluation
- Improvement
There are several requirements which organisations must meet for each of these areas. For example, ‘operation’ examines operational planning and control, establishing controls and procedures, raising concerns and investigation processes. Requirements must be met for each one of the different elements to attain certification. However, both the guidance and the requirements can be adapted to be appropriate to the size and complexity of the organisation undergoing the assessment.
Importantly, in line with other ISO certifications, certified companies must undergo an ongoing three-year audit process. This provides assurance that standards are maintained over time and that businesses are properly committing to the goal of continual improvement, establishing and maintaining a positive culture of compliance across their organisation.
Delivering best practice
Ensuring our buildings are fully compliant is of critical importance for the construction industry. However, in practice, this is a highly complex process relying on a huge number of stakeholders. ISO 37301 certification provides specifiers with clear assurance that product manufacturers are actively maintaining a culture of compliance across their organisations, helping to inspire confidence in that aspect of the supply chain.
Kingspan Insulation has achieved ISO 37301:2021 accreditation across all active British and Irish sites
