Northern Uniform has become the first uniform rental company to achieve ISO certification in North America.
The Sudbury-based company announced on April 2 it had achieved ISO 22000:2005 certification, which regulates food safety management systems, applicable to all organizations in the food chain. Certified companies must demonstrate their ability to control food safety hazards to ensure that food is safe at the time of human consumption.
Northern Uniform's food-safety system, called the Protective Apparel Safety System (PASS), is a verified and traceable, fully documented and third-party audited process.
"The risk of biological, chemical and physical contamination in the food business is very real," said James R. Bisset, Northern Uniform president, in a news release. "Our food safety system shows that we not only care about food safety, but do everything we can within our part of the food safety chain to prevent costly recalls."
"ISO 22000:2005 certification is one of the most significant contributions to food safety from the uniform industry in years," Bisset added. "Every employee has a role to play in this extensive program. We're very proud to be the first to market."
Founded in 1901 and headquartered in Sudbury, Northern Uniform serves customers from their operations in Sudbury and Bradford.