A YOUNG Okehampton water hygiene company has recently earned globally-recognised certification for high product quality and excellent environmental performance after only two years in business.

The National Quality Assurance (NQA) has recognised the high standards maintained by C&M Water Ltd, based at the Okehampton East Business Park, and granted the company two certificates – an ISO 9001 for the high quality of its products and an ISO 14001 for high quality environmentally-friendly business management.

C&M operations manager, Gareth Cooper, said: “Upon awarding us our new certificates, the NQA stated: “We recognise the hard work and commitment your company has devoted to maintaining its certification.

“It goes without saying that we couldn’t do this without our wonderful team, who have worked so hard to ensure we achieved this. Well done to everyone.”

Mr Cooper said that it was a particularly meaningful achievement as few businesses earn such recognition after such a short time of trading. Many businesses are around five years old before they are awarded ISO certification.

He said: “We worked on [achieving the certification] for six months and we had an outside contractor helping us. We worked hard ticking the right boxes and then we had our final inspection. We had enough credits.”

With the momentous achievement under his belt, Mr Cooper added that the company will now focus on continuing to provide high quality service to customers and expanding the business across the Okehampton area.

Currently C&M Water Ltd employs six workers including an apprentice who has, said Mr Cooper, quickly learned a skilled trade.

The water hygiene company offers complete legionella control to clients and provides a wide range of water hygiene services, including risk assessments of legionella - a bacteria that causes a serious form of pneumonia; water sampling and testing; and the cleaning and disinfection of cold water tanks.

The company has worked with a variety of different services and businesses including hospitals, hotels and many local businesses.

For more information about the company, visit www.cmwater.co.uk/.