Applus+ Velosi Angola Limitada became the first office in Africa certified using the Applus+ Velosi Integrated Management System (IMS).
Applus+ Velosi Angola Limitada was successfully audited by Global Certification on Thursday 25th June 2015. This marked the culmination of over six months of intensive work to implement the Applus+ Velosi Integrated Management System (IMS) that has brought substantial improvements to QHSE functioning within the local office.
The office in Angola is one of the largest entities within Applus+ Velosi in terms of turnover. The office specialises in providing
manpower services to the Malongo worksite in the Cabinda district of Angola, a key production area to the Angola LNG project. As such, the Angolan office was earmarked as a highly important strategic office which would benefit from implementing the processes of the IMS, not only to consolidate its existing position but to drive forward business improvement and growth.
Though the implementation of the IMS began in earnest in late 2014, the main advances towards its application began in January 2015 with the assistance of Ana Oliveira, a Portuguese-speaking QHSE specialist who helped to not apply the requirements of the various procedures but also explain to staff the importance of the processes and how they would lead to improvements in day to day operations. In order to become certified to the standards of the IMS (ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007 & TS ISO 29001:2010), the office was required to start taking into consideration factors that they’d previously not been required to consider.
Proactive management of
health, safety and environmental was started within the office, making its personnel think about what they can do to protect not only themselves but also their colleagues and the environment. The office was fitted out with all appropriate signage and equipment including smoke detectors, fire extinguishers and first aid kits to ensure the welfare of staff. Additionally, hands on first aid and fire warden training were provided to staff to prepare the office for any foreseeable emergency that may occur.
Applus+ Velosi Angola also began to implement procedures and processes that were aimed at improving operational efficiency. A comprehensive restructuring in the way in which documents and records were retain and archived was undertaken leading to overnight improvements in filing, saving time otherwise lost to searching through unsorted folders.
The benefits of implementing the IMS were quickly understood by staff within the local office, with one colleague commenting: “There is better cooperation between the workers as each person realizes the importance of improving their own work in order to obtain a common goal which is improving the overall efficiency of the company towards its clients.”
Upon completion of the audit, the Global Certification auditor informed the office that, with only minor findings noted during the audit, Applus+ Velosi Angola Limitada were recommended for
certification to ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, OHSAS 18001:2007 & TS ISO 29001:2010. As a result, the office has become the first Applus+ Velosi office in Africa to become certified to these standards. To put into context the magnitude of achievement, Applus+ Velosi Angola Limitada have become one of less than 100 companies certified to ISO 9001 in Angola and one of less than twenty certified to ISO 14001.
The news of the office’s certification was very well received by the office’s customers including Chevron, with John Baltz, General Manager for Angola calling the certification “a big accomplishment” whilst stating that Chevron appreciate working with suppliers such as Applus+ Velosi Angola that are “dedicated to being efficient, cost effective and customer focused”.
It is hoped that Applus+ Velosi Angola will build on the success of the IMS implementation and use this to further enhance Applus+ Velosi’s reputation both domestically and internationally as a world class provider of
QA/QC and manpower services.