Triple Accreditation for Bunting-Redditch

By Paul Fears | 26 May 2020

After a two-day remote audit by global certification body NQA, Bunting-Redditch has successfully been accredited for Quality (ISO9001:2015) whilst also gaining first time accreditation for Environment (ISO14001:2015) and Health and Safety (ISO45001:2018). This applies to the design and manufacture of Magnetic Separators, Metal Detectors and ElectroStatic Separators at the Bunting production facility in Redditch, near Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Bunting Denis Elkins — Buntings Denis Elkins and David Hocking having an online conference call with Charles Hunt from NQA

“Our team at Redditch has been working on improving our management systems with the aim of adding two new accreditations to the previously awarded ISO9001,” explained Denis Elkins, Bunting’s European Quality Assurance Manager. “Despite the present coronavirus restrictions, we and our auditor NQA simply adapted and conducted the two-day audit remotely. We are thrilled that our management processes are now accredited for Quality, Environment, and Health and Safety.”

The Virtual Audit

From the outset and as far as practically possible, NQA auditor Charles Hunt outlined the importance to mirror an onsite audit. The objective of the audit was to confirm that the management system at Redditch was established and implemented in accordance with the requirements of the audit standard. The audit plan outlined:

Date and times for each section review and the persons involved;
The subject under review;
The method of communication (whether by email or video conference);
Supporting indicative records;
Actions

The people involved in the audit were mostly operating remotely from home, with only one person on site at Redditch. Supporting evidence of process performance was supplied using photographs and emailed documents. This included images of onsite fire extinguishers taken at site during the audit, copies of purchases orders, and updated production performance data. NQA also read recent press releases and blogs commenting on the company’s performance and the ongoing extension work.

Bunting-Redditch Site Expansion

A recently produced video (uploaded on the Bunting-Redditch YouTube channel) provided a virtual tour of the Redditch facility.

Quality, Environment and Health and Safety Standards

After the two-day audit, the Bunting-Redditch site was certified for all three standards – Quality (ISO9001), Environment (ISO14001), and Health and Safety (ISO45001).

“Our external auditors, NQA, have been fantastic,” said Simon Ayling, Bunting’s European Managing Director. “They adapted the audit to our present [lockdown] situation, without any compromise. I also want to thank and congratulate everyone at Bunting-Redditch. This was very much a team effort.”

In April 2020, the Bunting site at Berkhamsted completed a four-day virtual audit for all three standards. The latest approvals at Redditch mean that both sites are now held under a multi-site registration.