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Lighting the way to Quality
The Northern Lighthouse Board (NLB) has achieved ISO 9001 Certification. At the end of the Board's Staff Meeting in December the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication by all NLB staff was realised with the presentation of the ISO 9001 Certificate. The honours were performed by Alastair Hart, the Glasgow manager for Det Norske Veritas, their certification body. In his speech, Alastair Hart praised the Northern Lighthouse Board on their achievement saying he realised the commitment it took from everybody within organisations to achieve certification.
James Taylor, Chief Executive of the Board accepted the Certificate and asked all in attendance to give themselves and those not present a round of applause stating that the praise belonged to all and was a testament to the teamwork involved in the achievement of this strategic objective. Both Alastair and the Chief Executive pointed out that this was only the first milestone in the Quality journey, and formed the basis for further continuous improvement. Achievement of the standard showed that the NLB is an organisation focused on improving the quality and efficiency of the service they provide. As well as maintaining the standard attention will now turn to the further use of various improvement tools and this will be made easier given the stable platform that ISO 9001 principles provides.
The Northern Lighthouse Board is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man and are vested with the superintendence and management of all lighthouses, buoys and beacons throughout Scotland and the adjacent seas and islands and the Isle of Man under Section 195 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995.
The Board currently employs around 200 full-time staff, which are based at their Headquarters in Edinburgh, Depots in Oban and Stromness and on their two ships MV PHAROS and MV POLE STAR.
Notes to the Editor
1. The Northern Lighthouse Board operates under statute - the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 - and is the General Lighthouse Authority for Scotland and the Isle of Man.
2. The Board currently operates: 201 Lighthouses, 131 Buoys, 41 Beacons, 3 Differential Global Positioning System Stations, 22 Radar Beacons and 15 Fog Signals.
3. The Northern Lighthouse Board is funded entirely from the General Lighthouse Fund, sourced by "Light Dues", a levy paid by shipping. The Board receives no direct funding from the Exchequer or taxpayer.
4. The other General Lighthouse Authorities are the Commissioners of Irish Lights (Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) and Trinity House Lighthouse Service (England, Wales, the Channel Islands and Gibraltar).
For further information, please contact:
Lorna Hunter, Information Officer
Tel 0131 473 3100
Fax 0131 220 2093