STILL Case Study

23 January 2019

STILL Materials Handling (part of The KION Group) is one of the leading manufacturers of forklift trucks and warehouse solutions across the globe. Boasting over 8,000 employees, 4 production plants, 14 German branches, 20 global subsidiary companies and 246 dealers worldwide, STILL is successful on a large scale.

Standards achieved: ISO 9001, ISO 14001 & ISO 45001

STILL in the UK has 220 employees and offers a full range of materials handling equipment along with nationwide service coverage. With sustained growth and continued success, STILL UK are continually looking to stay abreast of the latest industry standards and once again have proved that they are ‘first in’ when it comes to workplace safety and organisational compliance. With a focus on quality, reliability and innovation, STILL prides itself on being able to meet the requirements of small, medium and large size organisations.

Aiming High

In 2016, STILL UK set themselves an objective to ensure they achieved ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification by the end of 2018. However in March 2018 the OHSAS 18001 Health & Safety certification was replaced with ISO 45001, updating the standard to fall in line with Annex SL, a structure that is also followed by the Quality and Environmental standards. STILL UK made the decision to update their certification plans and aim for ISO 45001 to ensure a standard approach across the whole business to their H&S, Quality and Environmental Management Systems.

Andrew Pye, HSEQ Manager has explained: "We felt that achieving the three standards across the business would demonstrate our commitment to the high standards of Health and Safety, Quality and Environmental Sustainability right through the core of our company to our customers and employees."

Integrating Their Systems

After discussions with their assessor, Darren Rowlands, STILL UK decided that the most effective progression would be to integrate all three systems. In the initial conversation, Darren explained all the benefits of integration; including the main benefit of having common elements for each standard, which would enable them to avoid duplication and reduce the number of surveillance days in the future. Andrew says, “It is so refreshing to have a certification body that want to be proactive and discuss the best way to run your certification visits to get the maximum value for money.”

It was clear that working towards a triple certification was a team effort by all the STILL UK teams. As a business, they already had a great level of top management commitment to their systems and ways to continue to improve their work are a major source of dialogue throughout every monthly UK board meeting.

Following these meetings STILL UK then ensure the rest of the business are informed about the new systems through short ‘toolbox talk’ presentations. This has led to knowledgeable employees that are fully behind the aims and objectives of the company.

Before applying for certification STILL UK made sure that they conducted an internal audit and focused on studying the requirements of the standards and aligning their Management Systems to the requirements.

To help with this they found a huge benefit in participating in the NQA webinars as they were notified of these regularly by email. These sessions proved to be an ideal opportunity to gain valuable knowledge with little negative impact on a working day.

"I have used various certification bodies in my career, however I have found NQA to be the most consistent, knowledgeable and always take a ‘firm but fair’ approach to our audit visits. The communication between STILL UK and NQA is excellent, from the back office organisation of upcoming surveillance visits to the ability to contact our assessor if we have any queries which makes the process so much easier."

Moving Forward

STILL UK’s main goal for the future is to continually improve their Management Systems. They will be concentrating on keeping their current systems in top shape and providing their customers with excellent service.

Nick Wright, NQA’s Managing Director, enjoys working with companies such as STILL and explains, “NQA are extremely proud to award triple certification to STILL Materials Handling Ltd. Their achievement highlights their dedication to Quality, Environment and Occupational Health & Safety and in turn their commitment to providing the best service to their customers. We wish them all the best and look forward to continuing a bright relationship with them in the future.”

Commenting on the achievement, Nick Smith, STILL UK Managing Director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to achieve this industry-first accreditation. It’s a testament to the wonderful efforts of everyone within our business; this has been a team effort and one which we are extremely proud of.”

Read more of our case studies to learn about our clients and their accomplishments, or contact us today for a free quote for certification to any of the standards mentioned above.

For more information about STILL, visit: www.still.co.uk

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