FOLLOWING recent political focus and broader public commentary on the governance standards of Australia’s registered organisations (i.e. trade unions and employer associations), AREEA wishes to remind our members that your national resource industry employer group is fully certified with the recognised global standard-setting body, the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO).

The ISO is a United Nations-affiliated independent body which promotes worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial standards across 164 countries. More than one million organisations globally are certified to the ISO 9001 group of quality assurance standards, including AREEA.

Each year AREEA is audited to ensure we meet the principles set by ISO 9001, including that we:

• Are client focused, and strive to understand and meet the needs of our members;
• Practice strong leadership to the benefit of our members and the industry;
• Employ a process approach to ensure we achieve the best outcomes from the activities we undertake;
• Approach decision making based on factual analysis of all available information; and
• Seek continuous improvement in the outcomes we deliver for our members and clients.

AREEA chief executive Steve Knott says being ISO-certified is important for the confidence of our members in AREEA’s processes, managerial and governance standards.

“AREEA has long chosen to be regulated to much higher governance standards than those typically required of a registered organisation in Australia,” Mr Knott explains.

“As a quality standard recognised all over the world, ISO assists us in improving member and client satisfaction and defines a set of processes to ensure all member requirements are being met. It ensures management and staff are aligned towards common organisational goals and consistently seek ways to improve our services and representation of the industry.

“In addition to being certified to ISO 9001, AREEA’s financial governance complies with the requirements under the Corporations Act and our accounts are annually audited by a tier-one accounting firm.

“These quality assurance and governance processes ensures AREEA members can have full confidence in the integrity and transparency of our activities as we deliver workplace consulting services and seek to ensure Australia’s resource industry is an attractive place for investment, growth and employment.”

If you’d like more information about ISO certification or any other AREEA governance processes, please contact the membership team via 1800 627 771 or [email protected].