ISO accreditation

Today I attended one of the many trade association meetings which support local businesses in my local county of Yorkshire.  During the break I was approached by a director of a construction firm who asked about the validity of their ISO 9001 ‘accredited’ certification and why its customers were rejecting it because they didn’t recognise the accreditation body.  In this case the body which had issued their certification was not recognised by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), which in the United Kingdom is UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service).

They went on to inform me that the certification company were siting terms and conditions which tied them into a ten year contract. 

I am relaying the story to my network to ask that you conduct due diligence when seeking ISO certification to ensure that the associated accreditation meets the requirements of your customers.  Please check if your customers require UKAS accredited certification and if so, check that your certification provider is accredited by UKAS.

It’s easy to verify your chosen UKAS accredited certification body by checking the UKAS webpage: https://www.ukas.com/find-an-organisation/?q=atlas+certification.

As far as I am aware there is no legal requirement for a certification body to be accredited under the recognition of the IAF, but it is clear that large numbers of customer bases do expect it.  Please please check with your customers in terms of their requirements on ISO certification requirements in respect to accreditation.

Of course, Atlas Certification is accredited by UKAS and we are interested in discussing certification options with organisations across the UK and Ireland (and globally).  If your organisation is interested in certification (including the transfer of certification) then please click here.