Our Quality Statement

First Security’s Integrated Management System which is under review and in the process of being migrated to a new Business Management System (BMS) is quantitative-based and involves surveying performance on key criteria. The IMS/BMS describes the means by which the company meets its stated business objectives and seeks to ensure that its business processes and procedures are continually reviewed and improved with the aim of maximising customer satisfaction and business performance. The current scope of the IMS/BMS covers the provision of manned guarding services that meet the principles established by BS7499:2002 and BS7858:1996 and does not permit any exclusion to the Quality Management System BS EN ISO 9001:2000. The processes, and key activities which support them, are defined in the IMS/BMS Manual and Procedures, Process and Task flowcharts, work instructions and associated documentation. The key points are worthy of note.

Customer expectation is a key determinant of customer satisfaction. The Business Management System (BMS) Manual (7.10) outlines the means by which the organisation seeks to assess, fulfil, and monitor its customer expectations of its contract obligations through a process that ensures:-

Customer requirements are fully explored and understood by both parties to ensure that delivery of services properly meets customer needs [and expectations] and complies with statutory and BS7499 & BS7858 requirements.

Service Agreements are fulfilled, on time, to budget cost, or less and with minimum risk to customer, employee and the community by deploying the required number of screened, trained, appropriately attired and supervised security officers with Assignment Instructions on a site that has been surveyed and rated as ‘safe’. Key measures are: Number of Customer Complaints or Customer Satisfaction Surveys identified as less than satisfactory, and Number of non-Conformances.

Information relating to customer satisfaction (including customer complaints) is monitored and used to help managers and staff in striving to improve levels of performance. A key measure is the number of customers who do report satisfactory levels of service (details of which are included in the contract and/or service level agreement).

The monitoring consists of two parallel strands:-

1. The monthly ‘Site Visit Report’ that is undertaken by the responsible operations manager, supplemented by the quarterly visit of the area manager. It involves interrogation of the security officer, or officers, supervisor, site/contract manager and client using a pro-forma/standard protocol, and

2. The bi-monthly ‘Customer Satisfaction Survey’ which is undertaken by an independent researcher using the same pro-forma/protocols but with two additional questions aimed at establishing the skill with which the interview was conducted and the attitude of the First Security manager conducting it.

The two streams serve to benchmark each other. The responses are used tactically and scores of 5 or lower are reported to the managing director and operations director who ensure/instigate corrective and/or preventative action and head of corporate assurance and management development who reviews the service shortfall in the light of the Assignment Instructions, the BMS and the Personal Development Plan of the individual manager(s) and officer(s) involved and makes recommendations to Operations where appropriate. The process generates reports that serve to monitor and track performance over time by, for example, customer group or service team. The review is paying close attention to management reports, the production of ‘tracking’ information, and most effective and efficient application to raising standards.

ISO 14001

Following a successful audit in December 2008, First Security is in the process of introducing, and integrating with our existing quality standards, ISO 14001. The ISO 14000 environmental management standards exist to help organisations minimize how their operations negatively affect the environment (cause adverse changes to air, water, or land) and comply with applicable laws and regulations.

ISO 14001 is the international specification for an environmental management system (EMS). It specifies requirements for establishing an environmental policy, determining environmental aspects and impacts of products/activities/services, planning environmental objectives and measurable targets, implementation and operation of programs to meet objectives and targets, checking and corrective action, and management review.

ISO 14000 is similar to ISO 9000 quality management in that both pertain to the process (the comprehensive outcome of how a product is produced) rather than to the product itself. The overall idea is to establish an organised approach to systematically reduce the impact of the environmental aspects which an organisation can control. Effective tools for the analysis of environmental aspects of an organisation and for the generation of options for improvement are provided by the concept of Cleaner Production.

As with ISO 9000, certification is performed by third-party organisations rather than being awarded by ISO directly. The ISO 19011 audit standard applies when auditing for both 9000 and 14000 compliance at once.