We know that if your business has been affected by the flooding, then your ISO certificate is not the first thing on your mind. However, an event such as this can make for changes in your organisation and your management system can be there to help.
The first thing to consider is to record a step-by-step, day-by-day account of what, when, how, why; what happened? When did it begin and when did it end? How has it effected the daily running of your organisation? Why did it happen? What exactly is the root cause? What steps did you take to recover normal workability and prevent future occurrences? If you have receipts, reports from staff and the emergency services or evidence of any kind, keep a hard copy and create a digital file if possible. Photos and videos are priceless records of a disruptive event, and all of the above will no doubt be needed for insurance purposes too, so you can save time by collecting for both at once.
When your organisation is “back to normal” (or an updated version of normal), make sure you keep copies on and off-site of all happenings during said period of disruption. Not only might you need to refer to the file in future, but you can begin to record it all into your management systems. For Quality 9001, you will need to show evidence of managing the problems with providing staff working environments or what you have done with those people who have no-where else to work, and how did you handle the inevitable setbacks in terms of time and production? For Environmental 14001, you will need to show that you considered the drainage systems and took control of any effects the event could have on the immediate environment that your organisation may be responsible for: do you store chemicals in a place that unfortunately got flooded? How have you made sure those chemicals haven’t affecting anything or anyone else? If they did cause a problem, how have you dealt with it? For Information Security 27001, how were your records and daily workings affected, and how did you make sure everything was still secure if you had to move staff around and even have them work from home?
Once an event such as flooding has occurred, it’s something that has a knock on effect that could last for a very long time: you might have to get different insurance cover, train your staff in different events and damage control or even consider the possibility of moving to a different building if it is something that will regularly cause costly damage to the daily running or your organisation.
But first, repair what has been done and be sure to keep your management systems updated so that it can keep working to help you.
Don’t forget, we’re here to help:
London & South East 020 3432 2854, Midlands 01332 896 478, Wales & West 029 2000 4623
Web: www.assent1.com
