Qatar Building Company earns quality certifications for civil contracting division

Qatar Building Company (QBC) is granted four certificates of quality management systems by Quality Austria Ltd., attesting to the company’s standard operating procedures and successful performance in Quality, Health, Safety, and Environment (QHSE) endeavors throughout its civil engineering division.

QBC was certified according to ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004, TS ISO 29001:2010, and BS OHSAS 18001:2007. The company earned all four certifications on the first audit and in record time. “The genuine concern for their employees was very evident amongst the management team who had obviously spared no effort to make sure that their system would achieve a positive result,” says Mr. Jack Mollison, Head of Certification at Quality Austria.

QBC has over 4,000 employees, the majority of whom in its contracting division. “Implementing a system which is designed to protect its employees from the dangers of working in the construction industry is not an easy task for any company. For an organization of the size and complexity of Qatar Building Company this task becomes much more difficult,” Mollison continues.

The certification process is a rigorous undertaking: The detail to which they had identified any potential health & safety hazard was impressive and this was matched by the actions they had taken to reduce the possibility of these hazards actually happening.

No effort had been spared by the whole team to make sure that this system was far more than mere words, it has already become the key driving force of the whole construction process because the mind set of every one of its employees now focuses on further improvement.

“Having conducted many audits throughout the world,” Mollison concludes, “it was refreshing and rewarding to have been associated with a company such as this who really do want to make a difference.”

Last year, QBC launched an elaborate QHSE initiative. It has earned them a nomination in Construction Weekly’s 2012 Awards for Qatar’s Health and Safety Initiative of the Year (results to be announced in September). “Positive, strategic leadership has been at the core of QBC’s success. We endeavor to be at the forefront of the construction industry in QHSE,” states Mr. Serkut Akdeniz, QBC QHSE Manager.

In recent years, QBC also received several ISO certifications across its other divisions. For example, ISO 9001:2008 has been issued to QBC Concrete Products, QBC Readymix, QBC Roads & Maintenance, and QBC Heavy Equipment Division.

“These accreditations—and those yet to come—are tangible evidence of QBC’s approach to excellence,” comments Mr. Ali M. T. Mustafawi, QBC Managing Director. He reflects on QBC: “It is embedded in our culture to focus on our customer, have clear visions and concrete goals, and pursue continuous improvement in every aspect of our performance.”

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