Dubai Maritime City (DMC) and Dubai Maritime City Authority, Dubai's premier maritime regulatory authority, were awarded ISO certifications for their strong focus towards quality, health and safety and environmental (HSE) management practices.

Henrik Madsen, chief executive officer of DNV, the world’s leading provider of value-added, high-integrity certification services,  presented the ISO 9001:2000, ISO 14001:2004 and OHSAS 18001:2007 certificates to Amer Ali, DMC Authority CEO, in the presence of senior managers from both organisations.

The DMC and DMC Authority have also been awarded a certificate of compliance to PAS 99:2006 in recognition of the integration of their management systems and for reaping the benefits of adopting a single integrated management system covering all three spheres, said Amer Ali.

DMC and DMC Authority are the first and currently the only organisations in the Middle East to be awarded the PAS 99 Compliance Certificate by DNV, the world’s leading provider of value-added, high-integrity certification services, he noted.

PAS 99 is a publicly available specification of common requirements for management systems that can be used as a framework for an integrated management system.

It is intended to encourage organisations with more than one management system to view PAS 99 as the opportunity to achieve a single holistic management system to enable them to more effectively run their operations.

Amer Ali said the DMC and DMC Authority opted for the ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 endorsements as these standards are widely acknowledged for Quality, HSE management systems.

"The certifications stipulate how the two organisations need to implement effective mechanisms for the satisfaction of their customers, and the welfare of their employees and communities."

"They also indicate our commitment to sound environmental practices and proactive implementation of strategies, while providing a safe working environment for our employees and sub-contractors," he added.

"Most of our customers operate internationally; therefore it is easier for them to refer to a service provider singing the international language," he commented.

"The process however does not stop here; DMC and the DMC Authority will embark on continual improvement of performance as required by the certified management systems and we will make sure that they be harnessed and translated into organisational excellence and business sustainability. This will be the target,” Ali added.

The duo started the initiative with a Business Process Engineering (BPE) exercise, where selected cross functional teams worked according to a set plan with interactive participation towards developing the business processes of DMC and DMC Authority.

The high level business processes were developed by the senior management team and these were subsequently complemented by the intra and inter-departmental processes developed by the Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from various departments.

"The certification represents the leadership values and focus toward the integrated management of Quality, HSE that DMC and Dubai Maritime City Authority are committed to fulfil," said Madsen.

"The DNV team performed an extensive verification process of compliance toward the standards and found high levels of compliance and commitment throughout the organisation," he noted.

"We would like to express our congratulations to Dubai Maritime City and the Dubai Maritime City Authority for their unparalleled commitment in achieving notable organisational excellence," Madsen added.-TradeArabia News Service