1. Case Study
Laminar Medica
Summary
Needs
• To comply with industry legislation
• To exceed customer expectations
• To create a documented system to
improve health and safety policies
Benefits
• Legal and regulatory compliance
• Increased access to new customers
and business partners
• Increased staff confidence
• Ongoing improvement
• Better management of health
and safety risks
Background
Laminar Medica specialises in the design,
testing, manufacture and qualification of
insulated shipping systems which are used
by the pharmaceutical and biotech industries
globally. Laminar Medica’s products protect
vaccines, drugs, blood and associated
medical products from extremes of
temperature during transportation.
Having already achieved certification to
ISO 9001 (quality management) and
BS 25999 (business continuity
management), Laminar Medica takes
certification very seriously. The company
is quick to respond to the commercial
BS OHSAS 18001 – Occupational Health and Safety Management and ISO 14001 – Environmental Management Systems

2. demands from its customers and evolving
legislative pressures, but is equally
committed to the health and safety of its
people and monitoring the impact of its
activities on the environment. With this in
mind the company has since gone on to
implement and achieve certification to the
management system standards, BS OHSAS
18001 (Health and Safety Management) and
ISO 14001 (Environmental Management).
Customer Needs
“Our reasons for implementing BS OHSAS
18001 were predominantly customer and
legislation driven, but our desire to look
after the health and safety of staff and the
environment were also motivating factors,”
explains Stuart Coomber, managing director.
“Our customers demand high standards
from their supplier partnerships and
in turn we demand the same from
our suppliers.”
Laminar Medica applied BS OHSAS 18001 to
the design and manufacture of its products
in order to promote a safe and healthy
working environment. The management
system now provides a framework which
allows Laminar Medica to consistently
identify and control its health and safety
risks, reduce the potential for accidents,
aid legislative compliance and improve
overall performance.
Benefits
“Through BS OHSAS 18001 we have been
able to formalise our health and safety
management system. As a result we have
seen our staff grow in confidence. They are
now in a much stronger position to identify
opportunities for improvement and are
more confident in implementing existing
controls,” explains Coomber.
“Establishing a documented system
was quite a daunting task, however we
found that building it into the culture of
our organisation made it a team project.
This greatly assisted the success of the
implementation. Our employees have been
very enthusiastic and supportive and are
now actively involved in the implementation
of the management system.”
In a competitive market place companies
need to demonstrate that their businesses
are managed efficiently and responsibly
and that they can provide a reliable service
without excessive downtime caused by
work-related accidents and incidents.
Following implementation of BS OHSAS
18001 Laminar Medica is now confident
that the standard provides the following
benefits:
• Potential reduction in the number
of accidents
• Potential reduction in downtime
and associated costs
• Demonstration of legal and
regulatory compliance
• Demonstration to stakeholders of
commitment to health and safety
• Increased access to new customers
and business partners
• Better management of health and safety
risks, now and in the future
• Potential reduced public liability
insurance costs
BSI’s Role
Laminar Medica is proud to add
BS OHSAS 18001 to its existing portfolio
of certifications.
Coomber explains that, “Laminar Medica
has always had a very good working
relationship with BSI. It made sense to
choose a partner who could support our
training and certification needs on both a
global basis yet also at a local level with
regard to our global expansion programme.
The company’s implementation and
certification to BS OHSAS 18001
ISO 14001 was achieved in just under a year.
We are currently implementing ISO 14001
and BS OHSAS 18001 in our Czech plant and
plan to achieve certification during 2010.
The implementation of BS OHSAS 18001
has been made easier through the internal
audit training provided by BSI Training.
The training was tailored to our business
requirements and was held at our Tring site.
The in-company training option meant that
we were able to bring together our Czech
colleagues and other systems personnel
from within the Clinimed Group. We are
really pleased with the result.”
BSI
Beech House
Breckland
Linford Wood
Milton Keynes
MK14 6ES
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)845 080 9000
F: +44 (0)1908 228 180
E: certification.sales@bsigroup.com
www.bsigroup.co.uk/improve
raising standards worldwide™
BSI/UK/239/0909/E/LB
Back row from left to right: Geraint Thomas
(Technical Director), Stuart Coomber (Managing
Director). Front row from left to right: Paul
Barnett (Senior Quality Engineer), Mark Church
(Environmental Coordinator), Simon Nall (Head
of Key Accounts for BSI), Alan White (Quality
Manager), Chris Eyles (Finance Director)