Quality Service Standards Limited (QSS) in the UK, the company that audits and assesses moving companies against recognised Quality Standards, has achieved 25 years in business having been incorporated on 9 July, 1999. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Association of Removers (BAR).
David Trenchard, one of the original QSS Board members, said: “During the first weeks of 1999, BS EN 12522 was installed on a trial basis into five [BAR] member companies. These eventually achieved certification and were awarded certificates during the BAR Annual Conference in Dublin in May 1999. The scheme was launched and publicised to the members. We had been fortunate in that Britannia Movers International had recognised the importance of the BS EN 12522 Quality Standard to the removals industry and had made it a qualification for membership of their organisation. This added to the interest already in place by BAR members aware of the standard.”
David also acknowledged the work of the late Brian Mitchell, BAR General Secretary at the time, for his work in getting BAR recognised by the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry) and in forming the external DTI Committee which was chaired by Derek Payne. “Thanks also to him and the members of that Committee for doing the ground work for me to be able to represent the UK industry at European level.” David also praised Nick Brackin and the support given to him by the BAR secretariat, particularly Robert Syers and Mike Harlow. “Our thanks must also go to those members who have helped us with the pilot scheme and to our then BAR President, Gerald Sweeney, for his personal support.”
Chris Waymouth became QSS chief executive in 2004. During this time QSS took on responsibility for handling BAR member inspections; expanded its pool of auditors, all with vast industry experience; gained UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accreditation and became the first service industry to be accepted by BSI (British Standards Institute) into its Kitemark scheme. Working with BSI and industry stakeholders, QSS was instrumental in developing further standards – for storage, self storage, overseas and commercial moving - and then took on several ISO standards. Through this growth, QSS had come from being a loss-making drain on BAR’s finances and started to show a respectable trading surplus each year. QSS accepted many non-BAR companies as clients and expanded its operations across Europe, including a very successful relationship with EUROMOVERS.
Chris Waymouth handed over to David Woodhouse, the current QSS general manager, in January 2018. “At the point when I retired as chief executive in 2018, QSS had a total of just over 500 quality certifications across 12 different standards, with some 10% being from outside BAR,” he explained. “I handed over to David Woodhouse, fully confident that the company would be in safe hands, poised for further development – which has most certainly proved to be the case.”
David Woodhouse commented: “As of July 2024, QSS now audits 15 Quality Standards, including the new BS 8543 Complaint Handling Quality Standard, and can report current auditing of 662 certifications across 272 certified companies of which 119 certifications (17.97%) over 49 companies (18.01%) are non-BAR member companies/organisations.”
The current QSS Board Chairperson, Dominic Murray, commented: “It is great to see how QSS has developed and flourished over the last 25 years. In the current business climate this is quite an achievement, however the current Board cannot stand still and must look to the future and decide where to look for growth. There is no doubt that in business, standards are becoming more of the norm. QSS has worked hard over the last 25 years to develop standards within the BAR community but we need to continue to grow our non-BAR member market share. This will mean broadening our horizons and looking at businesses that are akin to our own industry where we can bring our expertise. As chair of the Board, I would like to thank all our customers for their support over the last 25 years and look forward to dealing with them all for the next 25 years”.
Ian Studd, BAR Director General, commented: “Over the course of the last 25 years QSS has become a vital cog in the machine that is the BAR. Not only does it provide the resource and capability for the Association’s criteria and code inspections to be fulfilled effectively and efficiently, it is also a profitable trading business in its own right and one which is growing its market share year on year. It is really encouraging to be able to report that a growing percentage of that annual growth is derived from non-BAR Member companies, which has the effect of making the business even more resilient. In my view, thanks to the foresight and involvement of such folks as David Trenchard, Chris Waymouth and now David Woodhouse, we have a successful and sustainable business that delivers value to its clients and adds value to our Association”.
If you are interested in QSS assisting you with Quality Standard certification auditing then please get in touch by e-mailing David Woodhouse, QSS General Manager.
Photo: David Woodhouse.