ISO 9001, performance management, competitive advantage and continuous improvement

The purpose of this study is to determine the ISO 9001 factors that improve performance in the Emergency Services. Proper understanding of these factors might help to improve emergency services performance and related organisations. a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 121 emergency service employees. ISO principles served as measurable variables and the results were interpreted based on these variables. Descriptive statistics and cross-tab analysis were applied for the purpose of this study.The results show that high level of training, effective communication and proper record keeping as factors that could improve performance in the emergency services. Management commitment is revealed to be insignificantly related to performance. The study is the first in the emergency services (firefighting and ambulance) in relation to quality management. The study provides emergency services managers with thorough understanding of the implementation of ISO 9001 quality management system and can use it to further enhance their decisions, thus improving performance.

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