AHEAD of first-oil in 2020 organisations within the private sector were sensitised on the importance of becoming International Organization for Standardization (ISO) compliant during an information session on Wednesday.

The session took place at the Pegasus Hotel and was attended by several companies and organisations in the local sector. It was organised in collaboration with the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GCCI); the Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD); the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) and the private Trinidad and Tobago company Streamline Management.

Delivering opening remarks, Executive Director of the GCCI Richard Rambarran established that over the recent years, many Guyanese companies have not been receiving the specific ISO certification they need.

He noted that this is concerning to the chamber of commerce as ?oil-and- gas sectors around the world depend highly on compliance and internationally recognised certification.
“We see that the business community is in need of support from organisations [which include] tailoring projects, tailoring workshops, tailoring information sessions to the needs of the private sector and, as such, we see it necessary to fill that void,” Rambarran said.
Added to this, the GCCI is in the beginning stage of developing a roadmap document, which will be used by companies as a guide to becoming certified.

“Right now it’s in the conceptual stage; at the stage where we are in discussions. We want to identify key stakeholders who are involved in the development of the private sector. It is our intention to have it eventually finished sometime next year. It’s going to be an information booklet which will be distributed to the private sector and anybody can access it free of cost,” he explained on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, a presentation came from CLBD Senior Business Specialist Natasha Gaskin-Peters, who expounded on why ISO standards are important to local companies.
“Within the oil-and-gas industry standards, especially international standards are very important. You’ll find that for a company when they’re come in to a country, they do not rely on the national standards. They always bring international standards; this is what governs oil-and-gas companies and it’s the same here in Guyana,” Gaskin-Peters explained.

Some of the other benefits of international standards certification are: enhancement of safety operations; enhancement of technical integrity; reduction of costs and waste and assured quality.

The three ISO compliance programmes being offered by CLBD: ISO 9001- Quality Managment Systems; ISO 45001 – Occupational Health and Safety Management and ISO 14001 -Environmental Management Systems.

Gaskin-Peters disclosed that it ?takes about 200 hours minimum or within roughly three months for a committed company to become IOS-compliant.

Because of its limited resources, the CLBD can train only a handful of businesses at a time; this is why other companies, such as Streamline Management, are welcome.
GCCI’s partnership with Streamline saw presentations coming from Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Lecturer at Streamline Management Everol Wilikie. Wilikie announced that the company is hoping to soon be established in Guyana and addressed the topic of ISO assessment and implementation.

He stated that oftentimes, persons who pursue ?ISO9001 often forget about ISO9002 and ISO9004; these tell companies how to implement and sustain their standards respectively. “When these fundamental principles are understood, there’s little room for error, there’s little room for challenges,” he told the audience.

The ISO is a network of institutions in over 160 countries which seeks to establish standards for quality and requirements of products, services and systems, to ensure quality, safety and efficiency.