ISO 9001 By Mary McDonald marymcd@mcdcg.com

Moving Away from “Risky Business” I

n the now infamous movie, “Risky Business,”

Tom Cruise learns first- hand how to handle unex- pected surprises (both good and bad – that poor 1979 Porche 928 goes for a swim in the lake!) – and how he eventually overcomes the risks he encounters.

Both ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 9001:2015 are focused on risk – specifically, identifying risks and working to minimize them. In fact, the definition according to ISO 9000:2005 (the “dictionary” standard) is: RISK: Situation or circumstance that has both the likelihood of occurring and a poten- tially negative consequence.

The 2015 update of ISO 9001 is doing the same thing – asking organizations to identify and mitigate risks. Yes, Cruise’s character definitely met the definition ... how about you? Are you taking some risks you should

not?

See if any of this sounds familiar ... • I don’t know what we’d do if our waste oil storage tank started leaking ... • I hope my people are using the right tool for the job and that they know which one that is, through previous experience. I don’t have time to train them! • Do my folks need to be wearing gloves, glasses, or steel toe shoes? • I don’t really know whether I’m pay- ing too much for cars, for insurance, for software ...

• Our layout is a mess ... we’re con- stantly getting in each other’s way and it takes forever to get from here to there (stock to dock, demanufacture to stock, etc.) ...

How does ISO help you here? By asking you to take a look at your organization, and identify areas that are likely to occur and will/might have a neg-

20 Automotive Recycling | November-December 2015

• Personal Protective Equipment is required in certain areas or doing cer- tain jobs, and all employ- ees are provided with it or are responsible for obtaining it and using it on the job.

• My process for run- ning my business is doc- umented, and I only have to get involved with exceptions, not with every transaction. My folks know what to

ISO helps you identify areas that are likely to have a negative consequence.

ative consequence. You don’t have to worry much about flooding or tornadoes in the Rockies, but you might want to plan what happens if you’re in Tornado Alley or located on the coast and Mother Nature “slaps” your area. Let’s look at the list again, with the proper responses: • We have a berm around our storage tanks; for smaller collection points, a spill kit is nearby and my folks are trained on how to use it.

• All my folks have been trained (including OJT) and know how to safely and quickly perform their jobs.

bid, what to sell it for, and when to walk away or say no. • We’ve streamlined our layout and we’re saving time and money, and mak- ing fewer errors to boot! When you think about it, don’t we want to spend a few minutes reviewing our processes anyway? Don’t we want to make sure that we are OK (our business and our people)? We want to protect our place, our folks, and our planet, and we are ready if things go in the wrong direc- tion (have spares for critical machinery so downtime is minimized). We want to have spill kits in place or fluids storage bermed; ensure our folks have access to the correct Personal Protective Equipment (PPE); and identify what to do if our inventory gets too high or too low (reaction plans), a key person leaves the organization (doc- umented work instructions so others can replace them), or other hiccups in our smooth-running automotive recycling operation.

Why ISO 9001? It simply ensures you don’t forget anything ... and that’s good!

Mary McDonald is the CEO/CTO of The Mc- Donald Consulting Group since 1995, working to help clients improve processes to positively affect the bottom line. She is a Certified Qual-

ity Auditor and a RABQSA Certified Lead Auditor in several standards, as well as an author and speaker on systems integration and strategic business planning.