Last month I told you about the day the auditor from QMS International visited us and confirmed our compliance with the standards: ISO 9001 Quality Management and ISO 14001 Environmental Management. Since then we have been lucky enough to have several more pieces of good news relating to certification and business awards.
It started with the news that we have been named finalists in two categories at the British Pest Management Awards. Organised by the British Pest Control Association (BPCA), these national awards recognise excellence in the pest control industry. Cleankill Pest Control has been shortlisted as one of four finalists in the category of Company of the Year and, very impressively, Chris Davis, Technical Manager, is one of only two names shortlisted for the Charles Keeble Award – recognising ‘outstanding commitment and performance in training and development.’
These are the inaugural British Pest Management Awards and the ceremony will take place as part of the BPCA’s 75th anniversary dinner on the 22nd March 2017.
Straight after we received this news we also heard that we were finalists at the 2017 Gatwick Business Diamond Awards. Cleankill Pest Control is named as one of three finalists in the category of Green Business of the Year – sponsored by Crawley Borough Council. This category recognises companies that provide an ‘outstanding eco-service’ and exhibit the highest levels of environmental management.
As you will know from my blog, being environmentally responsible is very important to us. Our accreditation as ISO 14001 reflects the importance we place upon being ‘green’. It is always nice to have our ‘green’ credentials acknowledged by others at business awards because it is traditionally seen as counterintuitive – “a ‘green’ pest control company!?!” It is great having our work recognised, as it recently was at the Croydon Business Awards, because it is something which is very important to us and it is something we work very hard to promote and improve.
The Gatwick Diamond Business Awards are just before the British Pest Management Awards, on the 16th March, at the Effingham Park Hotel. Last year they had Sanjeev Bhaskar presenting the awards, this year it is the actor, Stephen Mangan.
Then, after those two pieces of good news, we received word from Alcumus that we had successfully passed our SafeContractor audit. Alcumus SafeContractor is a third-party accreditation scheme which recognises rigorous standards in health and safety management amongst contractors. During the audit, our health and safety procedures were rigorously scrutinised and our track record for safe practice was assessed. Despite the thought that we would be required to provide further evidence, you invariably are asked for more information during these audits, we were pleased to receive our accreditation without any further questions.
As with all accreditation standards, it is important to us to be awarded them for three reasons. Firstly, it is nice to have outside experts review our processes to make sure we are working at the highest possible level. Secondly, it is important for us to be able to demonstrate, using internationally recognised standards, the quality of our work because many contracts will only be awarded to companies that can display these standards. Finally, as with being shortlisted for business awards, it is nice to have our work acknowledged by outsiders. We are very proud of our business and think we are providing an excellent service, delivered to the very highest standards. It is, therefore, great when this is acknowledged by awards’ committees and independent auditors. It shows that all the hard work done by every member of Cleankill’s staff is important and is appreciated.