Professor Alexander Dodoo, Director General of the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), has stated that standardisation is a critical cornerstone of every nation’s development.

He said the Authority’s contribution towards the strengthening of standardisation process to promote national development was paramount.

“However, it takes the support from the public for the implementation and application of standards to be enhanced in Ghana and the ECOWAS sub region,” he said.

Prof Dodoo said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Charles Amoako, Deputy Director General in-charge of Conformity Assessment at a two-day national training workshop on the requirement of ISO 9001\2015 in Accra.

The European Union is providing funds to support the promotion of the Quality Infrastructure in the ECOWAS Region while UNIDO is the implementing agency for the West Africa Quality Systems Programme and has supported various quality infrastructure activities in the country over the past four years.

The training, which drawn 18 participants from both public and private sector organisations was to build and develop expertise at the national level on quality management systems in Ghana.

Prof Dodoo said: “As Ghana is looking forward to participate more in the international trading arena, it is important to have a strong base in standardisation, especially international standards that improves the competitiveness of our industries and helps to ease market access constrains”.

“The ISO 9001\2015 standards, which is recognised worldwide as a sign of quality is leading the way in helping organisations compete on the international market.

“This is why this training programme has become very essential for all organisations in both the public and private sectors in the country to take full advantage of the opportunities in implementing these quality management systems standards,” he said.

Prof Dodoo, therefore, expressed his gratitude to the European Union and UNNIDO for their continuous support.

The GSA as the national standards body, also has a huge responsibility in the management of the national quality infrastructure embracing the three independent but inter related key pillars of Standardisation, Metrology and Conformity Assessment.

Some of the participants who spoke with the Ghana News Agency said they expected to acquire new knowledge on the requirements of the standard ISO 9001/2015 and their implementation.

ISO 9001\2015 specifies requirements for a quality management system when an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

It also aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

All the requirements of ISO 9001\2015 are generic and are intended to be applicable to any organization, regardless of its type or size, or the products and services it provides.