ISO Certification for Transport and logistics businesses

How can ISO Certification help your Transport and logistics business?

Transport and Logistics is the backbone of all businesses today. They are not only required to deliver goods in a timely manner but also need to ensure that they are delivered safely. All companies, be it a manufacturer, a distributor or a consumer, highly depend on transport and logistics these days. With just one setback in their services, the complete supply chain can be disrupted causing delays and eventually, loss of business. It becomes paramount for transport and logistics businesses to ensure that communications between different points of transit are smooth and complete system of getting goods from Point A to Point B is seamless. Some goods also need to be transported in a special environment, for example, items requiring refrigeration or certain food items need to be handled using HACCP standards. To handle such items, the transport companies should be well equipped with defined protocols for such goods.

Another challenge that this industry faces is workers’ safety. Accidents can happen at any time on the roads. A transport business needs to identify all risks that could lead to health or safety concerns for the workers and plan actions to mitigate such risks. These include but are not limited to vehicle condition, workers’/drivers’ mental state or fatigue, working at heights, etc.

Environmental degradation is also one more area of concern for the Transport and Logistics industry. Sustainability is the need of the hour and Transport and Logistics companies need to look into this aspect as the movement of vehicles can lead to a high level of environmental pollution and increase their carbon footprint.

ISO certifications can help you deal with all these challenges and can help build an image for your company known for its timely and safe delivery, environment-friendly processes, and workplace safety.

Which ISO Standards are best for a Transport and logistics Company?

ISO 9001 Quality Management System

The success of Transport and Logistics depends highly on their timeliness of delivery and quality of delivery. Quality in the context of the Transport and Logistics business would be how safely the items are delivered to the end customer. Logistics and transport shall have an efficient system in place that caters to all the customer needs and ensure seamless deliveries. The transport and Logistics business is highly transactional in nature with various points of transit for each good. Excellent communication mechanisms should be built to keep the systems working together efficiently. Also, Quality Assurance and customer satisfaction need to always be at the top of the list to ensure business growth. ISO 9001 standard can help you in building systems in the company where quality assurance is ensured, effective communication mechanisms are built, and services are streamlined. The standard helps you improve customer satisfaction, helps you establish methods for process improvements and ensures that you deliver as per the requirements of the customer.

ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management System

Logistics and Transport processes involve high-risk activities which can jeopardize workers’ health or safety. It is important to identify all types of risks that can affect workers’ or drivers’ health and safety and take actions to mitigate these risks using effective control mechanisms. ISO 45001 can help you build an Occupational Health and Safety Management System where industry best practices are used to manage all such risks. Compliance with ISO 45001 reduces delays in services which could happen due to risks involving workers health and safety.

ISO 14001 Environmental Management System

Logistics and Transportation activities can lead to environmental pollution. ISO 14001 can help you systematically manage environmental impacts in the workplace/or on the road. ISO 14001 helps you move towards using renewable energy sources and implement energy-saving processes which make the organization more efficient and reduce the impact on the environment. An effective Environmental Management System reduces a business’s impact on the environment and communicates the organization’s commitment to best practices related to sustainability.

HACCP

While transporting food items, especially the ones that are perishable, it is important for transport and logistics companies to ensure that the food is handled as per the requirements of the customer. Many times, food items should be preserved at the right temperature and humidity and protected using correct sealing to avoid any contamination en-route. It becomes all the more important to have HACCP certification to ensure staff in your company knows how to handle such food items. If you are dealing with food delivery, this is another important certification to consider.

ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management

It is important for transport and Logistics business to maintain their service delivery levels, no matter how bad the situation is. There can be a lot of disruptions in the business due to natural or manmade disasters. ISO 22301 will help you establish a Business Continuity Management System which will allow you to continue your deliveries and provide reassurance to the clients that you are ready for any type of risks and have proactively planned business continuity.