The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) has been awarded the Certificate of Registration of the Environmental Management System ISO 14001:2015 and Occupational Health and Safety Management System ISO 45001:2018.
The award, according to an official statement, was distributed at a ceremony at Ashghal’s headquarters. “This is a key milestone for Ashghal as part of its Corporate Excellence Programme, as the ISO 9001:2015 Certification of Registration of the Quality Management System was also achieved for the whole of Ashghal in December 2019,” the statement noted.
The award was received by engineer Jamal al-Kaabi, manager of Planning and Quality Department, after a comprehensive and extensive external audit of Ashghal’s departments by DNV GL in October 2020, with the internationally recognised standards set by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).
The scope of the certifications covered all Ashghal functionalities comprising design, construction, and management of major projects including roads, drainage, buildings and public amenities such as public buildings, schools and hospitals, in addition to operation and maintenance of assets such as roads, drainage networks and sewage treatment plants.
Dr Saad bin Ahmed al-Mohannadi, Ashghal president, said the recognition is a key milestone and major accomplishment for Ashghal and a fundamental pillar for establishing a culture of Occupational Safety and Environment in the implementation and management of Infrastructure projects and Service Delivery. “It helps in the continuous improvement and achievement of the strategic goals of the authority related to safety and environmental management and organisational excellence,” al-Muhannadi said.
“In line with its occupational health and safety and corporate environmental policies, Ashghal is committed to achieve and maintain the environmental management and occupational health and safety management systems in compliance with ISO 14001:2015 and ISO 45001:2018 requirements. This is also to comply with approved governmental legislations and policies and requirements as related to infrastructure building and construction management. This is in addition to Ashghal’s commitment to improving service levels, public safety, environment and customer satisfaction,” the Ashghal president added.
During the past three years, Ashghal developed and improved over 300 business processes and 22 corporate policies. These are in addition to elevating its measuring, monitoring and evaluation approaches, which helped in providing factual evidence for internal quality, safety and environmental performance.
Ashghal places customer care and satisfaction amongst its top priorities and its interaction and communication with customers are closely monitored through real-time dashboards and performance indicators. It also implements regular online surveys in order to continuously improve customer satisfaction.
