ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for the quality management of businesses, while OHSAS18001 is the latest specification for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
The process for AP Security involved four days of office and site audits carried out by independent certification body ISOQAR and covering security guarding, event stewarding and door supervision in accordance with British Standards BS 7858, BS 8406, BS 7960 and BS 7499.
“A core principle of the ISO 9001 standard is to improve consistency and traceability,” explained AP Security’s quality manager Jimmy Flynn. “Without it there are many opportunities for which we would not even be able to submit a tender, so we’re really pleased that we passed the audit with flying colours. We had no non-conformances of any sort, either major or minor.”
Meeting Health and Safety requirements
The same was also true of AP Security’s concurrent passing of the OHSAS 18001 audit, which means that the company can be very confident about meeting the requirements of Government-issued Health and Safety legislation.
“The setting of targets through the Health and Safety policy, together with the ongoing measurement against it, ensures a process of continual improvement – a process which AP Security is fully committed to,” added Flynn.
“Although there is an initial cost to gaining these accreditations, they have been proven to actually reduce cost in the long run because they represent a commitment to improve quality and efficiency. Their implementation far outweighs any disadvantages to us as a company.”
This latest success in quality management follows hot on the heels of AP Security’s successful annual assessment for the Security Industry Authority’s (SIA) Approved Contractor Scheme.
“This also consisted of office and site audits and, as it was our first year re-assessment, my goal was to improve our score,” asserted Flynn.
“At the end of our audit we were given a debrief by the auditor and, to our complete satisfaction, our score had increased by a whopping 130%.”
Two decades of experience
Winner of the first Safeconcerts Award for Excellence, twice winner of the Crowd Management of the Year Award and victorious in the NOEA 2009 Training in Events Tribute, AP Security has almost two decades of experience in the UK leisure market and has earned itself an enviable reputation at ‘resource intensive’ events such as the Glastonbury and Leeds Festivals, the Forestry Commission’s Live Music, Bradford Councils’ Bingley Music Live and the Rewind Festival (Henley and Perth).
The company has also provided security for prestigious gatherings at the Ascot Race Course (including Royal Ascot), the Henley Festival of Arts and Music and the Boat Race as well as at venues such as The O2 Arena, The O2 Academy and The Electric Ballroom in Brixton, the HMV Forum and Birmingham Ballroom.
From its offices in London, Leeds and Coventry, the company’s management team maintains a clear and dedicated focus on pre-event planning and on-site consultancy.
