ISO 45001 CASE STUDY

Katoni is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and decided to migrate early from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001, as their management considers certification to global standards for quality, environment, health and safety is critical to their business and customer requirements.

Iain Mackenzie, Operations Manager and HSE Lead said, “Our integrated management system is a foundation of our business alongside our talented workforce. Our certifications provide tangible evidence to clients and stakeholders of our commitment
to QHSE”.

Although Katoni is a small company, establishing and maintaining a strong safety culture is not only a competitive advantage but a must-have within the oil and gas sector.

Their ISO 45001 certification scope covers the whole business. Katoni’s management team, wanted to migrate from OHSAS 18001 to ISO 45001 early and use the migration to expand the organisational engagement by introducing new processes.

Before pursuing certification to the standard, Katoni’s QHSE team undertook a period of planning and performed an internal gap analysis to identify areas for improvement and the requirements they had to meet according to the ISO 45001:2018 standard.

Katoni recognises the significance of a globally recognised Certification Body and the additional reassurance that this provides to their clients. Their internal stakeholders also knew that working with the right Certification Body means they would be assessed against some of the largest companies in the world.

“We chose LRQA as our Certification Body because they would provide the most rigorous challenge but also set our direction for a longer-term development of our
QHSE systems and processes”, James Bream, General Manager commented.

As an organisation committed to continual improvement, Katoni has always benefited from an open and honest relationship with LRQA and the in-depth sector experience of their
assessor during the audits. Their team characterised the assessment process as ‘a robust external challenge which prepared them for any queries from clients’.

During the migration process, the involvement of all management and employees was an essential requirement for success. “LRQA's assessment services have provided direction and challenged us in a way that resulted in real improvement opportunities during our audits”, John Maclean, Managing Director said.

The ISO 45001 certification journey provided Katoni with the platform to identify new opportunities and introduce processes for employees to openly discuss QHSE challenges and potential areas for improvement. The OH&S standard requirements provided a foundation for both the employees and management to particularly focus on well-being and ensure that the company equally drives health and safety.

The migration process was smooth with regular QHSE meetings and management reviews playing a key role. Katoni also ensured a wide organisational buy-in by identifying a member of their team to lead each area of focus.

Achieving ISO 45001 certification gave Katoni the assurance that their health and safety culture is strong whilst providing them with a foundation upon which they can build continual improvement.

As the first company in the UK to be certified to ISO 45001 by LRQA, Katoni demonstrated how important a certified OH&S management system is regardless of the size of the organisation, and showed their commitment to putting their employees’ well-being first in everything they do.

James Bream, General Manager stated, “We want to be seen as a leader in the oil and gas industry and our early migration demonstrates our efforts to be ready, compliant and adopt a strong QHSE culture. The benefits of our certified management system are clear as it allows us to manage our business better, more safely and secure more business”.

James Bream, General Manager at Katoni Engineering explained that migrating to ISO 45001 early has provided a number of key benefits to their organisation:

Improved performance

The new standard ensures that the OH&S management system is fully aligned with the business strategy, hence it will improve performance and has enabled us to establish performance processes into our organisation earlier.

Enhanced reputation

Migrating to the new standard early has reassured our customers and stakeholders that we take health and safety seriously and this has increased their confidence.

Reduced risk and costs

We had the time to do an internal gap analysis, plan thoroughly and correct any problems, avoiding the risk of our certificate expiring before migrating or rushing in order to meet the requirements of the new standard. Also, if we had decided to migrate over a long period of time, we would have needed to demonstrate compliance with OHSAS 18001 during the migration period which would have increased the costs.

Increased engagement

Both our leadership and employees were very excited to be early adopters. We had the time to identify the right people to lead the processes, explain the expected benefits of the new management system and engage every member of the team.

Stakeholder engagement

The early adoption gave us the chance to promote our achievement and invite key stakeholders to celebrate together our certification and discuss our future plans.