History

Oz was founded in 1988 to render survey, diagnostic and quality control services for structures and foundations using "in situ" inspection and testing and, in particular, non or minimally destructive techniques.

To insure that all these services are rendered with quality, in September 1997 Oz began implementing a SGQ (Sistema de Garantia da Qualidade) / (Quality Assurance System) in accordance with reference standard NP EN ISO 9002.

Oz’s certification, obtained in December 1999, recognised the effort by the whole team to improve the company’s processes and general organization and thereby fulfilling the respective reference standard, having it renewed in 2003 (NP EN ISO 9001:2000), in 2008 (NP EN ISO 9001:2008) and in 2018 (NP EN ISO 9001:2015).

This recognition has been corroborated by the result in each of its monitoring and renewal audits.

Since 2000, the company has been a certified “general quality manager” under the LNEC (Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil) / (National Laboratory for and Civil Engineering) Quality Mark.

The transition from the SGQ to the new reference standard was an excellent opportunity for general improvement. On 30/01/2004, APCER (Associação Portuguesa de Certificação) / (Association Portuguese of Certification) considered that the necessary conditions had been met for certification by the Quality Management System in accordance with standard NP EN ISO 9001:2000.

This certifying entity carried out a new audit on 16/07/2004, and on 20/08/2004 it was confirmed that Oz’s current certification scope would be extended to rehabilitation design.