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A boutique hotel in Bahrain's tourist area, Al Safir Hotel & Tower in Juffair, is well on its way to creating a hospitality industry record by becoming one of the first hotels to implement a Quality Management System (QMS) as per international specifications.
The Al Safir Hotel's QMS initiative is backed by the Labour Fund (LF) which launched a programme in June this year to enable SMEs in the kingdom to gain much-needed international quality management certification.
Using the expertise of Jaffari Consultants, the Al Safir Hotel has launched an ambitious three-pronged effort to gain certification of excellence in three different areas: Quality Management System - ISO 9001:2000, Occupational Health and Safety System - OHSAS 18001 and Food Safety Management System - ISO 22000:2005.
"The Al Safir Hotel is one of the first in the kingdom to put in place the requirements for ISO 9001:2000 certification and we are aiming to be among the first to be awarded the certification," said general manager Abdul Hamid Halwachi.
"But I think we are even more proud that we have undertaken an extensive and multi-layered approach to the whole quality question by simultaneously seeking OHSAS 18001 and Food Safety Management System ISO 22000:2005 certification as well."
He added: "This bold move has been made possible thanks to the support of the Labour Fund which has extended its 'enterprise development support' to include quality management and giving medium-sized organisations like ours access to expertise such as Jaffari Consultants. It just opened up so many doors for us."
Consultation has been provided by Bahrain-based Jaffari Consultants (Jafcon), which office comprehensive consultancy services world-wide including all types of quality management systems and productivity improvement services. Jafcon is one of the major service providers for the QMS scheme, as well as, the other 'enterprise development programmes of the Labour Fund.
Dr Akbar Jaffari, the chief executive of Jafcon, says the project has brought together international certification processes and moulded them to key local requirements.
"By involving consultants like us, the Labour Fund and SMEs like Al Safir are reinterpreting international standards to meet local needs and still achieve the highest quality.
"This is a very good indication for the future of SMEs in Bahrain as the kingdom prepares for the impact of the US FTA and an increasingly global world."
Through the QMS, the Labour Fund will provide a grant up to 60 per cent of the total fees which includes consultancy services, pre-assessment audit and certification fees for two years.
The co-financing programme offers small businesses a maximum of BD10,000 and for medium-sized businesses, a maximum of BD15,000 in support.
The Labour Fund plans to expand the main project to include 150 SMEs in the process, thereby helping to raise quality standards across the board for Bahraini SMEs.
