At Giganet, we believe the safety and well-being of our employees and customers should always come first. That’s why we’re proud to have reached a massive milestone in our commitment to excellence. We’ve become one of the UK’s first internet service providers (ISP) to be certified under five ISO standards by a UKAS-approved auditing body.
In this week’s blog, we catch up with Lee Meek, Head of HSQE at Giganet. Lee explains why we want to ensure a positive safety culture in our organisation, and how these ISO accreditations demonstrate Giganet’s commitment to providing a safe and secure working environment for employees and customers alike.
“We have a framework that can now be developed and improved upon, to be the envy of other companies within our sector. This demonstrates that Giganet are serious about being ‘the best’ at what we do.”
“Our aim at Giganet is to become the most recommended way to connect. Founded with customer satisfaction at our core, we have been dedicated to improving productivity and efficiencies across the business. In this regard, it is my delight and pleasure to announce Giganet has achieved certification for five ISO standards – potentially making them, the first internet service provider (ISP) to gain these from a UKAS-approved auditing body.
I’ve worked in telecoms for around 10 years, starting as an engineer installing connectivity services to households before working my way up the ladder to Head of HSQE at Giganet in 2022. Over the years, I’ve seen just how beneficial implementing a clear framework of processes can be for teams, driving a positive safety culture where everyone feels they have a part to play.
The road to ISO accreditation
Achieving certified status is the ultimate reward for our collective efforts across the business. After 14 months of hard work getting these processes in place, plus a strenuous 25-day audit with awarding body Alcumus, we can finally say that we’ve been recommended for five ISO standards:
- ISO 9001 – Quality
- ISO 14001 – Environmental
- ISO 45001 – Health & Safety
- ISO 27001 – Information Security
- ISO 22301 – Business Continuity
The audit itself consisted of two stages, with the first spent demonstrating our Documented Management System and undertaking checks over five days in our Reading and Fareham offices. We then moved to stage two which consisted of a 20-day audit across 30 functional departments within Giganet, including Build, Operations, People and Culture, Sales and Partner Management.
The purpose was to ensure we had processes in place that worked, could be evidenced, underwent regular review and conformed to Safety and Information Security policies and procedures. After the two stages were completed, we were then recommended by the UKAS-approved Lead Auditor to be certified for five ISO standards.
Lee Meek, Head of HSQE at Giganet, on-site at a full fibre build in Devizes
But what does this mean for our partners and customers?
Customers can now rest assured that we have an Integrated Management System that works and conforms to the ‘Gold Standard’. This gives our partners the confidence that they are working with a client that has processes in place to keep their employees safe and data secure, as well as continuously improving to give customers the best possible services – whether that’s quality customer service or a hyperfast broadband connection.
The ISO certification is a huge step towards fulfilling our goal of being ‘the most recommended way to connect’, and it could not have been done without the help of our tight-knit team.
It’s always a team effort
I’d like to thank Rick Patten and the SHEQ department for owning the whole ISO piece – they ensured all of our policies and procedures were in place and aligned throughout the business, as well as facilitating all five standards and being present at every audit session.
To name-check a further few, Dada Olajide managed the ISO project to a tee without allowing anyone’s standards to slip, while Bill Melotti and Dave Bown ensured that IT policies and procedures were aligned with the Technical team.
A big thank you also to Mansel Jenkins and John Ramage who effortlessly owned and managed the Information Security piece. And to Charlie Robertson-Wu who picked up the Business Continuity standard within the first week of joining Giganet. We’re a team that likes to get stuck in and Charlie flourished under slightly challenging circumstances!
Every single person at Giganet has contributed hugely to creating processes that work. This in turn feeds into the Integrated Management System we have demonstrated to the auditors over the past six weeks. We have a framework that can now be developed and improved upon, to be the envy of other companies within our sector.
It’s this drive by our team to make our mark in the industry that, once again, shows that Giganet is proving to be ‘the best’ at what we do while doing it right.
Where to next?
Looking for more information on Giganet? Curious to what else we’re doing to become the UK’s most recommended way to connect? Visit our about us page.
