The management systems community
17th Feb 2012 by Cor Groenveld
When you look at LRQA’s auditors and our approach at audits, we are intensively training our people to make sure that they have a management system process based approach.
4th Oct 2011
FERMA’s objectives are to support the development of Risk Management in Europe and to be a significant stakeholder at European level on risk management and insurance issues.
3rd Oct 2011
Peter den Dekker, President of FERMA gave a stirring speech on where FERMA is today and how the organisation has grown in size and influence since the 2009
3rd Oct 2011
Risk managers are under constant pressure to innovate, to find new and often imaginative ways of helping their companies
14th Sep 2011
“Companies are demanding that insurers be innovative. When the insurers try this, then the companies have to do their part and provide for proper risk management.”
29th Jun 2011
ASIS International released the for the ASIS Conference to be held in Florida from 19-22 July
16th Feb 2011 by Alex Briggs
With the opening of the world’s most important food safety conference, The Global Food Safety Conference, LRQA has launched a food sector video.
In the video, Cor Groenveld, LRQA’s global food expert, Mark Overland, Cargill’s Global Director, Certification and Mike James, LRQA’s Managing Director talk about the benefits of taking a process-based management systems approach to addressing risks across the food supply chain.
5th Mar 2010
Canada has adopted the ISO 31000 Risk Management standard, CSA Standards announced February 4th 2010.
12th Feb 2010
“A deliberate typo in relation to last week’s Global Food Safety Conference. Yet a relevant typo, as the issue is ‘who do you trust?’ I will explain later.”
Day Ten’s blogger is Ronald de Kok, LRQA.
30th Jan 2010
Latest blog from Mis use of expenses, covers how you can use Risk Surveys to Identify, Assess and Mitigate Business Risks.
28th Jan 2010
Jeanette Purcell, chief executive, Association of MBAs talks about the economic downturn and how it was was widely considered to have revealed some shortcomings in what is taught at business schools.
27th Jan 2010
According to new figures produced by the Trades Union Congress (TUC), a total of 5.07 million people regularly worked additional hours without receiving remuneration last year.
17th Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s blog was phoned in by Sean Cuthbert, the Lloyd’s Register Energy’s leading climate change expert. The blog post is available as an audio file or as the transcript below.
16th Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Today’s Lloyd’s Register Copenhagen COP 15 blog post is from Sean Cuthbert, one of our leading climate change experts. Sean attended an oil industry meeting at the COP 15 conference and here are his thoughts.
Skeptics, Standards, and Peak “Everything”
15th Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Episode 10 in the Lloyd’s Register Copenhagen Podcast Series is an interview with Paul Genoa, Policy Director for the Washington D.C. based Nuclear Energy Institute. The interview was conducted at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark during the COP 15 Global Climate Change Conference. Lloyd’s Register Energy’s leading climate change expert, Sean Cuthbert, is the interviewer.
2nd Dec 2009 by Alex Briggs
Episode 2 in the LRQA Food Safety Video Podcast Series also features Cor Groenveld. Cor is one of the world’s leading experts on Food Safety. He is currently the chairman for the FSSC Foundation and was instrumental in the development of ISO 22000 and PAS 220. In this episode, Cor talks about PAS 220, the FSSC Foundation and the unique issues facing today’s global, complex food supply chains.
17th Nov 2009 by Alex Briggs
Episode 1 in the LRQA Food Safety Video Podcast Series is an interview with Cor Groenveld, one of the world’s leading food safety experts. Cor is currently the Chairman of the Board of the Foundation for Food Safety Certification. The foundation are the owners of FSSC 22000, which combines ISO 22000 and PAS 220 to offer a comprehensive food safety solution for food organisations and their suppliers. In episode 1, Cor about his role as with the FSSC, as well as the importance of food safety to organisations and their stakeholders.
1st Oct 2009 by Alex Briggs
With the FERMA conference and exhibition coming up next month, we interviewed one of the world’s leading risk management experts, Marguerite-Soeteman Reijnen, AON’s Chief Broking Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In Episode 2, Marguerite talks about AON’s GRIP approach to risk management. She also talks about the future of risk management.
LRQA and www.businessassurance.com will all be in Prague for the October 4-7, 2009 FERMA event.
28th Sep 2009 by Alex Briggs
With the FERMA conference and exhibition coming up next month, we interviewed one of the world’s leading risk management experts, Marguerite-Soeteman Reijnen, AON’s Chief Broking Officer, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In Episode 1, Marguerite talks about the financial crisis that led to the 2008/2009 recession. She also talks about the AON “Crystal Ball Report.”
www.businessassurance.com will be attending the FERMA event, October 4-7 in Prague.
15th Sep 2009 by Alex Briggs
ALcontrol is one of Europe’s leading environmental and food testing organisations. David Doherty, ALcontrol’s Health & Safety and Environmental Manager talked to us about their ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems implementation and certification. Listen in as David talks about tangible benefits, internal and external, financial and non-financial, short and long-term, that ALcontrol’s LRQA certified ISO 14001 EMS has delivered.
18th Aug 2009 by Alex Briggs
Last year the world had a wake-up call with the sudden oil and food price rises. While we know the price of our food, the full environmental costs and the costs to our health are significant and hidden. We need a radical rethink of how we produce and consume our food.
UK Environment minister, Hilary Benn
5th Aug 2009
Supporting suppliers has become a critical supply chain issue for many global companies, according to a new study by consultants PRTM
24th Jul 2009 by Richard Gunawan
Lack of Work-Life Balance has significant risks to the organisation; including loss of productivity, poor health, and higher absenteeism. By offering flexible work arrangements to employees can help companies navigate the troubled times. By offering periods of unpaid leave or options to work part-time, companies may be able to avoid massive retrenchment and still retain their talented employees.
20th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
This Food Navigator article highlights the seriousness of health and safety for food manufacturers. With 3 deaths in the UK over the past few months, many firms in the Food sector are looking at OHSAS 18001 certification as a way to help them manage their risk and reduce health and safety incidents.
13th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The recent LRQA Food Safety Webinar is now available in smaller segments, starting with the opening session, “Food Safety Issue and Standards” being broken down into 8 individual video files. This post contains 5-8. Click on any of the images below to view that section of the webinar. Here is also the link to sections 1-4 .
9th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The recent LRQA Food Safety Webinar is now available in smaller segments, starting with the opening session, “Food Safety Issue and Standards” being broken down into 8 individual video files. This post contains 1-4. Click on any
8th Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
The July 1st Food Safety Webinar from LRQA is now available for listening, viewing and downloading.
The entire session is available as a recorded Webex here.
You can also view the webinar in parts with each of the sections being uploaded individually. The first sections will be uploaded tomorrow, covering all of the opening session, “Food Safety Issues and Standards.”
2nd Jul 2009 by Alex Briggs
In Episode 3 of the 10-part LRQA Business Assurance Trust and Transparency Podcast Series, Solitaire Townsend, co-founder and Chief Executive of Futerra Communications, offers insight into what businesses need to do to rebuild consumer trust, as well as the role that 3rd parties have in consumer decision making. Solitaire is one of the UK’s leading experts on environmental communications. In recognition of her work on environmental and sustainability issues, Solitaire was named as one of the original 15 “London Leaders” by then Mayor Ken Livingstone.
19th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
Episode 2 of the 10 part LRQA Business Assurance “Trust and Transparency” Podcast Series. This episode focuses on the “Accountability Gap” that was highlighted in the What Assures Consumers in an Economic Downturn Report. The research for the report was conducted in the UK by YouGov, commissioned by AccountAbility , sponsored by the Co-operative and supported by LRQA. The “AccountAbility Gap” refers to the difference between what consumers think an organisation’s responsibility is and how well they are at living up to that responsibility.
16th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
Here is a collection of notes and thoughts from Guardian Climate Change Summit 2009 in London yesterday, most of which were posted yesterday on our www.twitter.com/lrqa page.
First session thoughts and notes
Quote from Gavin Neath, Senior VP Unilever “Organisations need to learn humility.For the past 30 years, environmental groups were right, businesses were wrong.”
Mars looking to work with PAS 2050 the carbon Footprinting for products, according to Fiona Dawson, Managing Director, Mars, UK
9th Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
The 10 part “Trust and Transparency” podcast series is here! Harriet Lamb of The Fairtrade Foundation starts the series with her insight on what it takes for organisations to rebuild consumer trust. She also talks about Fairtrade and how they have done during the current economic downturn. She also shares her thoughts on the What Assures Consumers in an Economic Downturn report, the latest in a series from AccountAbility, sponsored by the Co-operative and supported by LRQA.
2nd Jun 2009 by Alex Briggs
The current BPA debate that is raging around the world is an example of how quickly consumer trust can be destroyed, and how difficult it can be to regain it. Currently, both sides of the debate (the critics who believe the evidence clearly shows that BPA leads to significant health problems and the regulators around [...]
27th May 2009 by Alex Briggs
The What Assures Consumers in an Economic Downturn report was commissioned by AccountAbility, sponsored by the Co-operative, supported by LRQA, with the online research being conducted by YouGov. In early June, we will be launching a 10-part audio and video podcast series from interviews and presentations from the launch event. Sign up to our subscription updates or our iTunes podcast link at the top right hand corner of www.businessassurance.com .
12th May 2009
Many Chinese food companies lag behind foreign firms in ensuring food safety, partly because consumers do not trust safety certification, said experts yesterday.
11th May 2009
This article on WTOL 11 provides great tools for small businesses to use to be able to keep ahead of the possible effects of the current pandemic
5th May 2009 by Alex Briggs
We now have 9 sections in total, with the Asia specific section joining Climate Change, Food, Supply Chain, CSR, Product Conformity, Risk, Management Systems and Business Continuity.
17th Apr 2009 by Alex Briggs
With Food Safety at the top of the agenda for governments, organisations and individuals, the risk to brands that get it wrong has never been greater. The costs of assuring the food supply chain have been seen by some as “too high” or “not necessary.” The example of the Plainview Peanut Company’s $14.6 million fine highlights once again the true costs of “getting it wrong.”
16th Apr 2009
The communiqué also seeks to establish and promote greater collaboration between nations to “guard against risk” and “discourage excessive risk-taking” by strengthening regulatory systems and supervision.
15th Apr 2009 by Alex Briggs
Supply chain managers in North America, Europe and Asia by a wide margin worry that increasing trade protectionism could push the global recession into a global depression, according to a survey released today.
31st Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
Todays thought and link of the day both refer to a new report, Keeping America’s Food Safe.
Only one percent of imported foods are currently inspected, even though approximately 60 percent of fresh fruits and vegetables and 75 percent of seafood Americans consume is imported.
20th Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance (LRQA) has been awarded global accreditation to certify organisations against BS 25999, the business continuity management systems standard. In addition to UK clients such as LINK Associates and BT, LRQA has now certified their first client outside of the UK to BS 25999. Based on that work, LRQA are now accredited to deliver BS 25999 certification globally.
5th Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
The latest edition of Strategic Risk Magazine features an article by Andrew Williams on the benefits of new EU Directive proposals on Risk Management.
The article highlights the issues that organisations face in implementing EU Directives when they operate in multiple markets.
5th Mar 2009 by Alex Briggs
The latest edition of Strategic Risk Magazine features an article by Andrew Williams on the benefits of new EU Directive proposals on Risk Management.
The article highlights the issues that organisations face in implementing EU Directives when they operate in multiple markets.
10th Feb 2009
Outside the financial sector, supply chain risk management has become one of the biggest areas of concern in the downturn…
9th Feb 2009
One of the main conclusions from the report suggests that the disaster impact could have been reduced through resilient building design and the deployment of an early warning system complemented with good community preparedness.
20th Jan 2009
There is a business continuity issue here as well. So, that benefit is bound to occur to the other IT companies which customers have high confidence in terms of the integrity of the management. The company had exaggerated its cash reserves by some $1bn (£661m)”.
18th Dec 2008 by Alex Briggs
i2 Technologies has published their economic downturn supply chain predictions:
1. SaaS and other engagement models will dominate in 2009
Software as a service (SaaS) and other engagement models will dominate the market in 2009 as companies seek to focus technology budgets on gaining a competitive advantage quickly without additional infrastructure. Outcome-based service engagements will be encoded into contracts in 2009 utilizing a managed business process services approach.
2. Risk becomes real and so does risk management
28th Nov 2008 by Alex Briggs
Asda, J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison, three of the big four UK supermarkets, were forced to find alternative supply deals – either through other third parties or direct from music makers and publishers – as supply dried from Woolworths’ distribution business, which was put into administration on Thursday night alongside the 800-strong store chain.
This article highlights the delicate state of supermarket supply chains in the crucial run up to Christmas.
25th Nov 2008
According to a report by the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (CIDRAP), a scenario is outlined where a pandemic disrupts the supply chain for coal, providing electricity and a critical element to support public health and organizational continuity.
The report suggests the next pandemic is likely to impact the global just-in time economy and will seriously compromise the public health response. The unavailability of skilled manpower will be unable to meet the surge of demand and ultimately restrict international and domestic travel/trade agreements.
15th Nov 2008
To successfully communicate with relevant parties during critical events, organizations need a system that can enhance their preparedness and contribute to the overall security of human, physical, and information assets.
This special report by the Varolii Corporation provides an overview of common steps organizations are taking in order to connect, protect, and account for their people, while enabling response teams and decision makers to coordinate a successful recovery and help protect assets and infrastructure—even such things as supply chain and key customer relationships.
14th Oct 2008 by Alex Briggs
This New York Times Media Group article raises the question “Is there more tainted food out there?”
The melamine scandal has heightened fears that the food business is racing ahead of the ability of governments to detect health-threatening contamination, whether accidental or deliberate.
3rd Oct 2008
As the contamination of Chinese milk sends ripples through the global food industry, Eversheds lawyers Richard Matthews and Elizabeth Hyde lay out the due diligence procedures that food companies must go through when sourcing from outside the EU
14th Aug 2008 by Alex Briggs
managing-global-supply-chains.pdfmanaging-global-supply-chains.pdf This is the PDF of the McKinsey survey on the growing importance of Supply Chain Risk.
29th Jul 2008 by Alex Briggs
The attached report is the result of Eye For Transport’s recent survey of Supply Chain experts, with both current and future trends being evaluated.
8th Jul 2008 by Alex Briggs
This Retail Bulletin article discusses the results of a recently published survey on supply chain issues. According to the 100 UK supply chain professionals surveyed, supply chain managers spend up to 52 days a year keeping abreast of, and complying with regulation and legislation relating to the supply chain.
The research found 84 per cent spend up to 52 days a year on compliance while 16 per cent claim even more time. More than half (58 per cent) claim to be either concerned or very concerned about operating in an increasingly regulated environment.
2nd Jun 2008
The 9/11 incidents has created an increased awareness of security that has considerable potential for progressive ports and companies to exploit to their commercial advantage by being able to market their compliance with the ISO 28000:2007 Standard that has been developed because of 9/11.
1st Apr 2008
A recent Quality Digest article looks at the recent quality problems in China and how the U.S. media have become quick to blame the Chinese as “cost-cutting, get-rich-quick cheaters. Two parties make up a transaction, and we forget the responsibilities of the purchasers, the U.S. companies.
20th Mar 2008
On 11 March the Commission decided to ban the sale of non-child resistant and novelty lighters to consumers enters into force.
20th Mar 2008
Some of the hottest new electronic devices are being found to contain factory pre-installed viruses that steal passwords, send spam and perform other nefarious tasks that make the systems easy targets for hackers.
20th Mar 2008
According to a study by Indian Forensic Consulting, a Pune-based consultancy engaged in fraud examination and forensic accounting in India, 80 per cent of the time, corporates lose more money to ‘shenanigans of their own employees rather than frauds committed by an external party.
17th Mar 2008
DHL announced recently that DHL Express has been validated for C-TPAT
10th Mar 2008
Millions more of the world’s most vulnerable people are facing starvation as food shortages loom and crop prices spiral ever upwards.
28th Feb 2008
“In today’s Quality Management systems, the ability to control and correct processes is key to maintaining a high level of compliance within an organization”, says pharmaceuticalonline.com.
19th Feb 2008
Business Wire reports that a meeting in conjunction with its annual Toy Fair in New York City, the Toy Industry Association’s (TIA) Board of Directors unanimously endorsed the general direction of a proposal for a new toy testing and safety verification system for toys sold in the U.S. market.
Event: 25th Mar 2008
This one day Seminar aims at creating awareness and gives organizations the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintain and improving a management system for the security of the supply chain.
Event: 26th Jun 2008 – 27th Jun 2008
B2B, BizNGO, MSIs – How to build partnerships that work
21st Dec 2007
Significant lessons have been learned from recent food scares like foot and mouth this year, but more works needs to be done on communication, says the British Frozen Foods Federation (BFFF).
12th Dec 2007 by Alex Briggs
According to this Climatechangecorp.com article The US is looking into making CSR reporting on climate change a mandatory element of the information disclosed to investors.
5th Dec 2007
A report on the Chartered Management Institute’s 2007 Business Continuity Management survey has been released. This research was co-sponsored by CCS.
25th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
When big brands started to manufacture their products in “cheap labour” markets, it was believed that the brands had all the power, with governments doing everything they could to create favourable economic incentives to those brands.
The latest in the Mattel “lead paint” story seems to have indicated that the situation has drastically changed.
20th Sep 2007 by Alex Briggs
Successful consumer led campaigns against companies using cheap labour may be the blueprint for upcoming campaigns aimed at brands not paying enough attention to the “greenness” of their global supply chain. This Supply Chain Digest article once again shows that brands cannot afford to get their supply chain wrong. It is no longer enough for [...]
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