If you’ve ever wondered what ISOthis or ISOthat stands for you, you’re not alone. Sometimes these codes and references seem a bit like food additives – things we should know about, but they’re still a bit of a mystery.
At Kingly, however, they form an important part of how we work and why we do things a certain way. Our focus is always on doing things better: sustainably, ethically, responsibly, to the highest possible standards, and with a human touch. ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) standards and guidelines play a significant role in helping us meet these goals.
Here is a small selection of some of them, what they mean, what they mean for us – and therefore what they mean for you.
ISO 45001 Health & Safety
ISO 45001 is the Occupational Health & Safety Management System Standard. It replaced an earlier (2018) version, and expands occupational health & safety (OH&S) guidelines and specifications.
The Standard sets out the requirements for an organisation wishing to ensure a safe and healthy workplace, and prevent work-related accidents and ill-health.
Part of meeting ISO 45001 includes
- Having a robust OH&S management system
- Undertaking appropriate planning and risk assessments
- Strengthening the ability to respond to emergencies
- Raising employee awareness of health & safety policies
- Providing adequate health & safety training for employees
- Communicating the benefits of health and safety systems to stakeholders
- Ensuring health & safety is monitored and subject to continual improvement.
Using the (certified) ISO 45001 enables us to have an objective framework within which we work to improve and maintain high standards of health and safety throughout the Kingly operation – which makes it easier to keep delivering top-quality products, consistently.
ISO 14001, including Waste Management
This set of standards specifies ”the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to enhance its environmental performance.” Essentially, it is about building supply chains and production processes that are clean and sustainable. Crucially it is about systems, not just a collection of ad-hoc measures.
Kingly have leveraged this approach for the implementation our zero-waste socks production facility which is fully compliant with ISO 14001. Adopting these standards makes it easier to
- become and remain environmentally friendly
- manage compliance requirements
- systematically reduce waste and build this into future operations
- via audit and certification, demonstrate transparency as to sustainability.
The philosophy behind this standard is 100% in step with Kingly’s approach to sourcing, manufacturing and marketing, and we are proud to have met the required criteria.
ISO 9001, Quality Management
This is about implementing clear, repeatable processes to maintain high-quality service for our customers every time.
ISO 9001 describes a quality management system. In 2021, Kingly reported an SGS audit against EN ISO 22716:2007 for the cosmetics activities listed in its 2021 announcement.
Again, this is not about spot checks – although they happen too – it’s about making sure we have systems in place that guarantee certain standards. Compliance benefits everyone. Our customers can rely on our products and we know the systems we have in place are robust and designed to help deliver continuous improvement as well as regulatory compliance.
It’s about more than ISO
We are proud to comply with these and other standards – they’re evidence of the hard work we invest in, to do everything possible to deliver great promotional products that are sustainably and ethically made, and based on social and environmentally responsible supply chains.
We use additional standards too: Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), the SMETA PILLAR 4 Audit (business ethics, conditions of labour, health & safety, care of the environment), BCOME’s cradle-to-grave sustainability platform (validating re-use, up-cycling and re-cycling of production materials, plus reduced waste) and OEKO-TEX certifications for both organic and non-organic materials.
At Kingly these many regulations and standards are about much more than compliance. They open doors to continual improvement and they validate what we feel deep within us – the pressing need to look after our world, and the reality of commercially viable sustainability. Both are achievable.
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