A M Water Services Ltd — Integrated Management System

SOP 4.5 Receiving, Recording & Responding to External Communications

Issue 3 | 1 May 2026
Document ReferenceSOP_4.5
Issue Number3
Issue Date01/05/2026
Next Review01/05/2027
Approved ByAaron Mason, Director
Controlled ByAaron / Leanne Mason · Sean Ashton

Receiving, Recording & Responding to External Communications

ISO 9001:2015 Clause 7.4 · ISO 14001:2015 Clause 7.4.3 · ISO 45001:2018 Clause 7.4.3 — External communications

Procedure overview
A M Water Services treats every external communication — whether received by phone, email, post, in person on site, or via a regulator's online portal — as a recordable event. The Site Supervisor (or whoever first receives the contact) records the conversation as an email to the Directors and logs the email in the relevant client file. The Directors triage the communication: any contact from an enforcing authority (HSE, Environment Agency, Local Authority, Fire Authority, Police) is escalated to the Managing Director and the response is reviewed by the MD before issue. Routine correspondence may be handled directly by the receiving Director, with support from the HSQE Consultant or external advisors where the subject matter requires it. Records are retained per SOP 4.7.

External Communications — Process Flow

Site Supervisor & Office Admin
Jason May (Supervisor)
Office Administrator
Receive & Record
Receive communication from external party (phone, email, post, in person, regulator portal)
Record telephone conversations as emails to Director(s); log received emails in client / project file
Pass communication by email to relevant Director(s) for action
Directors
Aaron Mason (MD)
Leanne Mason (Director)
Triage & Decide
From an enforcing authority?
Yes
Escalate to Managing Director immediately; preserve original communication unaltered
No
Receiving Director compiles routine response
Support required from HSQE Consultant or external advisor?
Yes
Forward to Sean Ashton (HSQE) or external legal / technical advisor
No
Director compiles response directly
Director (MD) & HSQE Consultant
Aaron Mason
Sean Ashton
Respond & Record
Compile appropriate response; for enforcing authority correspondence, review with Managing Director before issue
Response approved by MD?
No
Revise per MD feedback before issue
Yes
Issue response back to external body
Retain inbound and outbound communication, plus any internal advisor notes, in the client / project file
SOP 4.7 Control of Records
Process / Activity
Decision Point
Document / Cross-reference
Issue / Approve
Escalate / Revise
Enforcing-authority correspondence — never reply without MD review
Any communication received from an enforcing authority — HSE, Environment Agency, Local Authority Building Control, Local Authority Environmental Health, Fire and Rescue Service, Police, DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency), or any client acting in a regulator-equivalent capacity (Ofwat, Drinking Water Inspectorate) — is treated as regulator-grade and goes directly to the Managing Director on receipt. No response, acknowledgement, or interim communication is issued without the MD's review. The original communication is preserved unaltered (including envelope/header). Where an enforcement notice carries a statutory response timescale (improvement notice 21 days, prohibition notice immediate), the MD instructs the response cadence on receipt — do not wait for a routine triage cycle. Records of the correspondence and the response are retained in a dedicated regulator-correspondence file, not the routine client file.