| GICG – Guardian Independent Certification Limited

You are here:

2011

AFCOM Report Finds Data Centers Lack Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Plans

13 Sep 2011

Data center association AFCOM reported on 13 Sep 2011 that more than 15 percent of data centers have no plan for business continuity or disaster recovery. According to the report, its objective is to help data center managers define and develop effective plans for their areas of responsibility within the data center. Two-thirds of data centers have no plan or procedures to deal with cybercrime.

The report says that many data center providers do not regard business continuity and disaster recovery separately despite each aspect requires its own plan. AFCOM defines a disaster as "an unexpected event that causes significant disruption to mission critical or core business services or functions."

The report also urges companies to take all risks seriously, and to have an action plan for every risk, no matter the likelihood of the event happening.

AFCOM says a key component of the disaster recovery plan is to understand how critical infrastructure and systems would be replaced in the event of damage. This, according to the report, requires detailed planning with key vendors or holding spares at different locations, for example. The report says 50 percent of data centers have no formal plan for replacing damaged equipment after a disaster.

ISO 14001 not necessarily reduce Industry Pollution

14 Jul 2011

Companies with environmental standard ISO 14001 certification may emit just as much air pollution as non-certified companies, according to a recent study. The results suggest companies see ISO 14001 as a way to appear environmentally responsible rather than to actively improve their environmental credentials.

ISO 14001 is a globally recognised and popular environmental standard. The standard was created in 1996 to help companies create their own environmental management system and performance measures to reduce their impact on the environment. It can also help companies meet regulatory requirements and save costs by streamlining processes and reducing waste.

ISO 14001 has been criticised for not specifying clear mechanisms or targets to encourage companies to reduce the pollution they create. In addition, little work has been done to demonstrate the actual effect of ISO 14001 certification on an organisation's environmental performance.

However, the researchers caution that the sample they studied only includes those industries that are covered by Spain's IPPC Law and included on the Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. Further work is required to establish whether the measure of atmospheric pollutants they used is adequate to assess the effect of ISO 14001 certification.

New edition of ISO/IEC 17021 aims to raise level of Management System Certification

1 Feb 2011

The second edition of the International Standard ISO/IEC 17021:2011 sets new requirements for the auditing of management systems and for auditor competence in order to enhance the value of management system certification to organisations worldwide.

The new requirement is intended to increase trust in certificates issued attesting conformity to management system standards (MSS) such as ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 14001 (environmental management) and ISO 22000 (food safety management). As such certification to these management system are developed to establish confidence between business partners, between organisations and their customers. It is also used to qualify suppliers in supply chains, and as a requirement to tender for contracts.

The new requirements emphasize on the competency of the auditors who carry out certification and how they are managed and deployed. Certification bodies complying with the new edition will be able to ensure competent audit teams with adequate resources, following a consistent process and reporting audit results in a professional manner.

Workplace Safety is more significant than you realise

18 Jan 2011

Workplace safety is often neglected by most people. Millions, if not billions of dollars are lost yearly due to workplace accidents. In fact by observing basic workplace safety rules goes beyond keeping ourselves out of trouble and saving costs for the company.

The most immediate effect of workplace accidents is loss of productivity due to absenteeism from work. Another disadvantage would be expensive insurance premiums charged or insurance applications maybe rejected due to multiple claims. Thus, making it difficult for company to stay in business if their employees aren’t insured.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), an american government body responsible for workplace safety rules audit the company to make sure they are following industry safety standards if too many accidents took place. This can be time consuming, and expensive if there are extensive changes to be made.

A major benefit of staying accident-free is that it can boost productivity tremendously and reduce operating costs at the same time. This also boosts employees’ morale where they work better as a team to keep each other safe.