QHSE & ISO Consultancy for Manufacturers
Quality, environmental and health and safety systems that hold up on the shop floor and in front of an auditor. Manufacturing is where DBIM started and where most of our work still is.
WHO WE HELP
Best Health and Safety in Manufacturing
SHE AWARDS 2024
Awarded for a three-year safety culture programme at The Rakem Group - judged against the whole of UK manufacturing, by an independent panel.
Where we came from
Manufacturing is where DBIM started and where most of our work still is. We build quality, environmental and health and safety systems for UK manufacturers - the kind that hold up on the shop floor and in front of an auditor.
DBIM was founded by Dan Bower, who started his career as an apprentice on a manufacturing shop floor. Not in a compliance department - on the floor, doing the job the risk assessment had been written about.
He worked up into leadership and ended up running his own QHSE department. That part matters more than the qualifications, because it meant being on the receiving end of consultants - and learning what a management system looks like when it has been built for an auditor rather than for the people who have to use it at six in the morning.
The technical depth came alongside it: NEBOSH Diplomas in both occupational health and safety and environmental management, integrated ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 implementations, a three-year culture programme that won Best Health and Safety in Manufacturing at the SHE Awards 2024, and a four-year sustainability transformation that reached EcoVadis Gold.
So when we say we understand manufacturing, we mean we've done the job, run the department, and sat on both sides of the audit.
The pressures we help with
Six things bring manufacturers to us. Each one has a sensible place to start.
| What's happening | What it usually needs | Where to start |
|---|---|---|
| What's happeningA customer audit or tender suddenly requires ISO 9001 | What it usually needsCertification against a realistic timeline, built to the 2026 revision | Where to startISO 9001 → |
| What's happeningAn insurance renewal is asking questions nobody can answer | What it usually needsAn independent scored baseline you can hand to a broker | Where to startHealth Check → |
| What's happeningA near miss, an accident or an HSE visit needs getting on top of fast | What it usually needsSomeone competent on site quickly, and the follow-up handled properly | Where to startOutsourced H&S Manager → |
| What's happeningCOSHH and DSEAR obligations in processes with chemicals or dusts | What it usually needsAssessment against the actual substances and the actual process | Where to startH&S Consultancy → |
| What's happeningYour H&S or quality manager has left | What it usually needsCover in days, not the three to six months a hire takes | Where to startFractional HSEQ → |
| What's happeningA safety culture that's drifted — people tick the box, sign the sheet, carry on | What it usually needsWork with supervisors, not another policy document | Where to startLeadership Coaching → |
Sectors we know
Machinery guarding, PUWER, workplace transport and the systems that sit over them.
COSHH at scale, DSEAR, permitting, storage and spill response.
Combustible dust, hygiene-driven process control, and quality systems that answer to customers as well as auditors.
Fume and LEV, hot work, resin and solvent exposure.
Welding fume, noise and HAVS, guarding and lifting operations.
Racking integrity, FLT operations, pedestrian segregation and contractor control.
The hazards we get called about
The one most often missing entirely. Any process generating dust from grain, flour, sugar, wood, metal or plastics can create an explosive atmosphere, and DSEAR requires it to be assessed. We find sites processing materials with a known explosion risk and no DSEAR assessment on file at all — usually because nobody realised the material counted.
A COSHH file full of manufacturers' data sheets is not a COSHH assessment. The assessment is about your process — quantities, exposure routes, control measures, and whether the extraction actually works. Reviews also go out of date faster than anyone expects.
Where interlocks have been defeated, where guards were removed for maintenance and never replaced, and where a machine was modified in-house without anyone reassessing it.
Local exhaust ventilation needs thorough examination and testing at regular statutory intervals. It's one of the most commonly missed duties in manufacturing, and one of the easiest for an inspector to check.
What we do for manufacturers
Gap analysis against ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 — Compliance Health Check
Implementation of single or integrated management systems — ISO Management System Build
Competent person support under Regulation 7 — Competent Person Service
Internal audits, pre-certification support and HSE liaison — ISO Consultancy
Training for supervisors and managers who'd rather be on the line than in a classroom — Training & Development
—
—
—
—
—
Case studies
SHE AWARDS 2024
Safety Culture Change at The Rakem Group
The three-year programme that won Best Health and Safety in Manufacturing.
Integrated ISO 9001, 14001 & 45001 System
All three standards as one system, across multiple manufacturing sites.
From the Shop Floor into QHSE Careers
Developing operators into qualified QHSE professionals.
How we work
A system build, a gap analysis, a batch of assessments. Priced after we've seen the site.
Your outsourced QHSE function, from £200 a month. Fractional HSEQ Advisor →
An experienced pair of eyes when you need them, at £750 a day.
Common questions.
-
No, but it's where we come from. The approach carries over to any operational business, from warehouses to workshops.
-
Usually ISO 9001 if customers are asking, ISO 45001 if the driver is safety. If you'll need more than one, build an integrated system from the start - it's cheaper than three separate ones and far easier to maintain.
-
Yes. We help you respond, fix the underlying issue and deal with the follow-up. If you're facing enforcement action you'll also need a solicitor - we work alongside them, not instead of them.
-
Between £10m and £100m turnover, typically 50 to 500 staff, single or multi-site. Big enough that the systems matter and small enough that there isn't a full QHSE department. Below that, ad-hoc days usually make more sense than a retainer, and we'll say so.
-
Manufacturing is where the business started, and the sectors we work in most are chemical processing, food and beverage, plastics and composites, metalwork and fabrication, and warehousing. If your process is genuinely outside that, we'll tell you on the first call rather than learning on your time.
Worth a twenty-minute call
Twenty minutes will tell you whether we're the right fit for your site - and if we're not, we'll say so.
Where we work. Greater Manchester and the North West as standard: Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Stockport, Rochdale, Oldham, Preston, Blackburn, Warrington and Trafford. Appointments elsewhere in the UK where the travel works for both sides.