“SANS 1393:2013 Construction Management System Requirements“
Sans 1393:2013 Construction Management Systems can be seen as:
- A set of guidelines based on industry best practice
- To assist construction contractors to continuously improve their business operations and avoid the pitfalls facing them
- And thereby improve the overall performance of the industry
In the introduction to the standard it is stated that:
“This standard was developed to promote and recognize performance improvement by contractors, regardless of size. It is based on recognized industry standards that cover- health and safety management,
- quality management, and
- environmental management (covering air, water, land and waste).
The requirements of this standard allow for easy expansion and conversion to meet ISO or OHSAS requirements in the future”
For those of you that are new to Management System Standards:
Your Management System can be:
OR
In defining SANS 1393 and understanding the thinking behind the development thereof, let’s briefly look at the underlying concepts:
Management System: There are many theoretical definitions of what a management system is, such as “the way in which a business manages the inter-related parts of its business in order to achieve its objectives” (ISO) In practical “normal language” a management system can be seen as all those things you do and put in place to make sure that your business is running as well as it can – the rules you make, directions you give on how to do things, when to do things, etc. and how you make sure that they are done as you want them to be done, whether these instructions are verbal or documented, formal or informal. It is unique to your business and can be very complex or it can be quite simple, clear and understandable guidance to the few employees of a “small” business entity Note: The complexity of the industry you are in also determines the required complexity of your management system, regardless of the size of your company and in that regard the construction industry demands quite a bit more from your management system.Management System Standard is:
AND
Management System Standard (MSS)
Management System Standards can be seen as a tool developed collectively from industry best practice to assist organizations when implementing their own management system.
There are a number of management system standards covering different functional areas and the functional areas that we are looking at are quality-, health & safety- and environmental management systems.
According to ISO (International Organization for Standardization) a MSS is “…a model to follow when setting up and operating your own unique management system”
MSS are not prescriptive and gives direction on what should be covered by your management system in applying good business practice. In other words – what should be included, but not how you should do it within your own unique environment.
MSS are also industry neutral – they are compiled in a manner applicable to any industry – good business practice is good business practice – regardless of the industry – you must apply the principles to your industry and individual environment.
Integrated Management System is:
Integrated Management System Standards (IMS)
Although management system standards are published independently from each other by by ISO they do have certain commonalities and overlapping requirements
Many organizations choose an integrated approach to the implement of these management systems and take advantage of their overlapping features such as document management, internal audits, etc., which makes a lot of sense, not only regarding the standards but also because the business must operate as one unit consisting of a number of undivisable components.
An IMS implementation can therefore be seen as the coordinated and integrated implementation of Quality-, Occupational Health and Safety-, and Environmental management System in order to take advantage of the synergies and eliminate duplication.
Note: Although the implementation of the management systems can be done in an integrated manor, there are still 3 external audit and 3 seperate certification processes to comply to.
Components of SANS 1393:2013:
SANS 1393:2013 Construction Management System Requirements
SANS 1393:2013 is a South African National Standard (SANS) that are one of the components of the “cidb Best Practice Contractor recognition Scheme”
SANS 1393 is very similar to the ISO 9001 (Quality), OHSAS 18001/ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety) and ISO 14001 (Environmental) management system standards, but with the following main differences:
- It can be seen as an integrated MSS requiring 1 certification process covering quality, health & safety and environment as oppose to the 3 certificates of the ISO equivalents, reducing the cost and effort for certification,
- Where the ISO standards are industry neutral, SANS 1393 is already tailored specifically for the construction industry applying construction industry best practice which makes the implementation process so much easier.
- It is developed specifically to assist SME construction contractors to implement management systems in accordance with industry best practice as a stepping stone to ISO certification as your company grows.
AND to top it all to make implementation even easier:
Kimomanzi has automated the whole implementation process through the use of our Kims software and e-Learning programs in 6 easy and simple steps (See more detail…)