EUROMOVERS International, the global international moving network, has announced the completion of its first quality certifications performed by QSS (Quality Service Standards Ltd) outside the United Kingdom.

QSS has certified EUROMOVERS members Gebr. Roggendorf in Cologne for ISO 27001 (Information security), Tranelux International in Luxembourg for ISO 27001, ISO 14001 (environment) and ISO 9001 (quality management); and renewed the ISO 9001 accreditation for Belgian member Servaes Services. The Head Office in Luxembourg was also audited and certified to ISOs 9001, 14001 and 27001.

QSS is a subsidiary of the British Association of Removers (BAR) and currently provides 430 quality standard certifications for 210 removal and storage companies. Although EUROMOVERS is not a BAR member the organisation has entrusted this specialist agency with the verification and certification of its members’ management systems.

Thomas Juchum, Managing Director of EUROMOVERS International headquartered in Luxembourg, said that QSS was internationally well recognised and enjoys a very good reputation in the moving industry. “All of their auditors are industry specialists with many years of experience in the moving business,” he explained. “This has more advantages than any other certification institution can provide. They understand the difficulties of our business very well and have a thorough understanding of our daily work.”

Thomas explained that in the past their auditing company had not fully understood the moving business and, therefore, their advice had been inappropriate. “But dealing with QSS is different,” he explained. “QSS audits may appear a bit stricter and probably may require a bit more preparation, but the auditors interpret the requirements of the standards in accordance with our business and therefore their input makes sense.”

The audits were carried out by Chris Waymouth and Peter Gawthrop from QSS. Chris commented: “It is an absolute pleasure dealing with EUROMOVERS. Thomas has provided outstanding guidance to the member companies in establishing their quality management systems and we have received total cooperation throughout the audit process.”

EUROMOVERS International operates a ‘Matrix’ system for quality management in which participating members receive certificates which are valid for a period of three years and those participating will be visited by the certifiers only once within the three-year-period, with bi-annual internal audits by the MD in the interim. The EUROMOVERS head office, however, is subject to annual external audit by QSS.

Photo: Left to right: Helder Goncalves, Quality Manager, Tranelux; Claude Watgen, MD, Tranelux; Thomas Juchum, MD, EUROMOVERS International; Chris Waymouth, CEO, QSS.