For Hydro Gas & Chemicals, the starting point for providing optimal business performance is sound management systems. The company recently achieved a first for its industry, having gained certification for its integrated management of quality assurance, safety and environmental awareness from Det Norske Veritas.
UK-based Hydro Gas & Chemicals is part of Norsk Hydro, a Norwegian industrial group, and supplies bulk and packaged industrial gases (including dry ice), chemicals and associated products to customers in sectors ranging from brewing and soft-drink manufacture to power generation, refrigerated transportation, food processing and water-effluent treatment.
Says Sanderson, Following the merger of the Gas and Chemicals businesses, HGC management used the opportunity to review all the existing practices and operating systems to improve business performance. We subsequently developed an integrated management system (IMS) based on national and international standards. This was assessed by DNV, which found it met the management-system standards BS EN ISO 9002:1994 (quality), BS EN ISO 14001:1996 (environment) and OHSAS 18001:1999 (health and safety).
Get it right first time
With its common set of management-control principles, the company is in a better position to meet the demands of a wide range of customers from diverse industry sectors, says Sanderson. The right first-time approach is the key to our efficiency it keeps customers happy, decreases our costs through reduced product or delivery failures and safety incidents, and improves our accident statistics. Now we are building strategic alliances with our suppliers and subcontractors so we can be kept up-to-date with the latest market developments.
According to Sanderson, Hydro Gas & Chemicals has received encouraging feedback from customers for its initiative, especially from those developing their own integrated management systems who can identify the contribution the Hydro system will make to the success of their own systems. One of the worlds major soft-drink manufacturers supplier quality systems has already been integrated into the Hydro Gas & Chemicals system.
DNV auditor, David Powley, who is an experienced HSEQ integrated management systems auditor, echoed Sandersons comments with regard to challenges faced during the audit process. Powley says that in order to conduct an IMS audit so that the benefits are felt, it is necessary to spend some time in fully understanding the organisation and its structure and to apply sufficient time in the planning for the audit.
A well planned and conducted IMS audit, based on HSEQ risk management, will be operationally more efficient for the auditor and the organisation, claims Powley.
He also says that an organisation implementing an IMS must appreciate that integration of management systems is more fundamental than just re-arranging the paper aspects. The whole approach or culture of the organisation may need to be altered in order to apply a concerted approach to HSEQ risk management. Powley claims that HGC grasped this concept at a relatively early stage in its implementation process. Hydro says it is now in the process of incorporating a carbon-dioxide standard that is crucial to ensure the quality of CO2 products for the food and drinks industry as well as the companys food-safety management system.
The value of integration
Based on the companys experience to date, Maria Sanderson believes there are sound economic and business reasons for developing integrated management systems. It is common knowledge that some companies still fight standards that could enhance their competitiveness, but there will always be those which take a proactive stance on issues and these are the companies that will win in the 21st century.
As for the management at Hydro Gas & Chemicals, they have long since recognised that business performance is an economic and competitive opportunity, and that integrated systems can be an important element in modern business survival.