CVE Strives For Quality 

CVE North America recently welcomed Carolina Lopez Bautista as our Quality and Risk manager. Quality is an integral part of our work and is present in each aspect of our activities. With this new hire, we can take our quality procedures to the next level. So, who is Carolina? And what is Quality at CVE?

Carolina has over 20 years of experience implementing risk, quality, and project management systems. Before coming to CVE, she worked for one of the largest banks in the nation as Vice President in the Project Management office. After working in the oil and gas sectors for a few years, she joined CVE to get back into the energy industry, this time contributing to developing clean energy. When asked why she chose to work in quality Carolina said it feels natural. “Everything in life can be a project, but if you want to do that project right you need quality. Strong quality procedures are the foundation of any good project”.

In her new role, one of Carolina’s responsibilities is to make sure that CVE is meeting its objectives under the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001 standards and to improve on our current quality protocols.

ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, the international gold standard for quality. By encouraging the implementation of global quality standards, ISO hopes to advance global standardization and ensure safety and efficiency. CVE started its quality journey by getting the ISO 9001 certification for its headquarters in Marseille, France in 2011. The US office soon followed with this certification in 2019 ISO 9001 sets out the criteria for a quality management system. This standard is based on principles and guidelines that help businesses ensure that they satisfy the needs of customers and other stakeholders while adhering to all applicable legal and regulatory requirements for a given service or product. Using ISO 9001 helps ensure that customers get consistent, high quality products and services, which in turn brings many business benefits.   

After this first step, CVE focused on another set of standards close to the core of its mission to provide energy and environmental services to businesses and communities. The ISO 14000 certification is a series of environmental management standards helping companies reduce the impacts of their operations on the environment. CVE North America strives to limit the impact of its activities on the environment. Our goal is to integrate impact analysis into our quality processes which encompasses the activities of subcontractors as well as our own. Control measures and remedial actions are part of our quality-driven approach. The ISO 14001 certification sets out the requirements for an environmental management system. By improving our environmental performance through more efficient use of resources and waste reduction, CVE has been ISO 14000 certified since 2020.

Before the end of this year, CVE will be subject to a routine ISO audit performed by Lloyds. The audit allows a business or organization to determine how closely its accomplishments adhere to its standards and meet its goals. An auditor will come to CVE’s office to ensure that we are meeting proper standards. Failure to meet every single standard doesn’t result in the automatic removal of the certification. Instead, it will result in what is known as a “non-conformity”. There are two types of non-conformities major and minor. A minor non-conformity could be not having clear protocols and processes. Examples of major non-conformities could include a failure to take corrective or preventive action, not implementing a part of the standard, or not implementing a procedure. Too many non-conformities can lead to a company losing its certifications.   

But why is ISO important and how do certified companies benefit from undergoing such a rigorous audit procedure? Certified companies benefit from those certifications by improving the efficiency of their operations, saving time and money, but also by gaining an international appeal. 167 countries are members of the International Organization for Standardization and in many countries, certification is a requirement to win government contracts. Having ISO certifications lets clients and customers know that the company adheres to a clear set of standards that ensures quality and efficiency.   

With the arrival of Carolina, an expert in quality management, CVE demonstrates its goal to ensure continuous improvement of our activities under the principles of high quality, efficiency, and sound environmental management. Those principles underpin the group’s activities and drive the ambitions of its members. We are happy to have Carolina on board to help us fulfill our mission.