ISO 45001: A Monumental Milestone

For us, Health and Safety is never an afterthought, but a proactive opportunity to do better. That’s why it was so important for us to pursue ISO 45001. This essential standard enables organisations to better prioritise the health and wellbeing of their people by helping to reduce work-related injuries and improve occupational health and safety. Our structured and considered approach to achieving this only reinforces our dedication to the welfare of our people. Health and Safety has always been a top priority for our business – it’s embedded into everything we do.

Having already achieved ISO 9001, the internationally recognised standard for quality management, as well as ISO 14001, the standard for environmental management systems, the next natural step was to aim for the triple crown by gaining the coveted ISO 45001 certification. Led by Health and Safety Manager, Richard Young, the quest for ISO 45001 was by no means an easy feat.

“While achieving ISO 45001 wasn’t about starting from scratch, it was about strengthening and standardising what was already in place,” said Richard. “The improvements required to meet the standard have been steadily developing over time – the certification simply formalises that progress and provides a stronger framework to sustain it. ISO 45001 brings greater consistency, accountability, and a continued focus on proactive risk management. For our customers, it provides confidence that our business meets recognised international standards, not just in quality and environmental performance, but in health and safety too.”

A structured approach across multiple sites

Our unwavering devotion to Health and Safety was reflected in our strategy for achieving the standard itself – unlike previous legislative standards, we set out to achieve ISO 45001 in one go. This rigorous and intensive audit window took place over several weeks as opposed to typically several years. During this time, we were visited and assessed by five auditors across a variety of different areas, both through in-person visits and remote virtual calls. Ged Deehan, Lead Safety Coordinator for our Blackpool and Warrington sites recalls particular scrutiny at our cab manufacturing facility.

“Our auditor asked us who was best to speak to on our shop floor to offer a good understanding of how Health and Safety is implemented at Blackpool, and we said ‘Anyone!’” Ged said. “They spoke to several people and everyone was able to give a great account of what we do. It was a brilliant outcome and proves just how ingrained Health and Safety is across the business.”

All of our main manufacturing sites were assessed for evidence of compliance across multiple clauses aligned to the ISO 45001 standard, especially with regards to how well things have been implemented. Due to the standardised nature of each of our Service Centres, Manchester acted as the blueprint to which all of our other Service Centres were held. Across the entire audit, we were very proud to have achieved our certification with zero majors and only a small handful of minors. These will be honing our focus over the next few months ahead of a follow-up review in July.

Rigorous work behind the scenes

The audit was conducted in two key stages, following a gap analysis completed in conjunction with Make UK, the recognised champions for engineering and manufacturing. This initial assessment by Make UK took place prior to the formal LRQA audit Stage 1 and Stage 2 process, helping to identify key areas of focus.

Initiated in October, Stage 1 consisted of a significant amount of preparation work ahead of the audit window, including an overview of the design of our Health and Safety management system and the opportunity to highlight potential areas of focus that might be called into question. Stage 2 followed up with a more in-depth assessment of current Health and Safety processes and procedures as well as how these had been applied in real-world scenarios. This took place over a two-month period in the first quarter of 2026 and ended up being a big learning curve for the team.

“There were several key things that we as a team needed to do to effectively meet the standards for ISO 45001,” said Richard. “This included tightening up some of our policies, particularly around document control, and providing robust evidence of asset management. While Warwick alone accounts for nearly 2,500 assets, the estate across the wider business is extensive, adding further complexity and scale to this work. We also needed to ensure compliance across maintenance and servicing regimes, as well as demonstrate how we are meeting applicable legislative requirements.”

Achieving ISO 45001 was truly a collaborative business-wide venture, with important contributions from team members across all departments. This included support and evidence from Training, Occupational Health, Facilities, HR, Manufacturing, and Administration among many others. Our leadership team also had a crucial hand in the success of the certification, driven largely by the vision of our Operations Director, Terry New.

While achieving ISO 45001 was a collective success across the business, several individuals made particularly significant contributions throughout the process:

• Nick Walters played an instrumental role during the early stages of the journey, supporting the initial Make UK gap analysis, Stage 1, and the transition into Stage 2. His work on Health and Safety compliance audits within Aftermarket was especially noteworthy and received strong recognition from the auditors.
• Julie Foster provided excellent preparation ahead of the Warrington Stage 2 audit. Despite being relatively new to her Business Systems role, she demonstrated great commitment and attention-to-detail, delivering effective preparation work and strong oversight to ensure site readiness.
• Patrick Ogbebor made valuable contributions behind the scenes, particularly through his work to streamline risk assessment processes, helping to improve consistency and efficiency across the business.
• Paula Rourke also played a key supporting role, providing essential administrative support through effective coordination, scheduling, and communication, ensuring the audit process ran smoothly.

What’s next for Health and Safety?

Looking ahead to the future, the Health and Safety team has now created an extensive ISO 45001 roadmap to address the highlighted minors as well as any other actions that could further improve the business’ processes. This will involve consolidating systems and approaches across sites to strengthen consistency, identifying any gaps through compliance audits and newly introduced clause analysis, and a proactive drive to manage risk.

“We can’t rest on our laurels,” said Scott McKinlay, Lead Safety Coordinator at Warwick. “Even though we’ve met the standard for ISO 45001, there is always work still to be done to keep the momentum going. We’re constantly looking for opportunities to continuously improve, so try our best to review and reflect on the big picture and explore in detail how we can do better.”

It takes a full team to tackle the intricacies of Health and Safety, and this is now an experienced and expressive team that has been steadily building up over the past few years, really shining a spotlight on the business’ endeavours. “One of the biggest challenges was getting everyone aligned and operating in the same way across all of the sites,” said Ged. “But now people are really bought into the Health and Safety philosophy and can see that all of this work has been done to benefit them and their wellbeing in the workplace. Everyone is behind us.”

“We really look after our people,” said Richard. “We’re completely committed to protecting them and making sure they return home safely and happily. Driven by four key pillars – Production, Quality, Health and Safety, and Environmental – we do everything we can to do right by them, our suppliers, and our customers. Achieving ISO 45001 is a huge recognition of this commitment and is a milestone we’re exceptionally proud of.”

Through strong leadership, collaboration, and a shared vision, Dennis Eagle and Terberg Matec UK have created a structured, comprehensive approach to Health and Safety that supports both operational excellence and employee wellbeing. While certification is a significant milestone, it’s also an important foundation for what comes next.