Questions about ISO Certification? We’ve got answers.
What is ISO?
ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is an independent, non-governmental, international organization that develops standards to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of products, services, and systems.
What does ISO do?
ISO come up with International standards which are acceptable throughout the world.
ISO certifications exist in many areas of industry, from Quality Management Environmental Management Systems, Occupational Health and safety, energy management and social responsibility to medical devices, business continuity. ISO standards are in place to ensure consistency. Each certification has separate standard and criteria and is classified numerically.
How do I obtain an ISO Certification?
Once you are ready for certification, contact us and book an appointment for our sales team to come and visit you. Following this initial visit, we will prepare a quotation for you. Once the costs are accepted we disucuss the next stages with you as well as agree on audit dates.
The audit is carried out on two stages
Stage 1 Audit
- Document Review – This is carried out to ensure that your organizations management system documentation conforms to standard requirements.
- Any nonconformance’s identified are communicated and you need to close the nonconformances within 30 days.
- Stage one audit can be carried out offsite
Stage 2 Audit
- Stage 2 audit is carried out at your premises to ensure your activities conform to your documented policies & procedures.
- Any Nonconformance’s identified should be closed within 60 to 90 days form the date of audit and they must be closed before certificate can be granted
What is a Surveillance audit and a re-certification audit?
Surveillance Audit
Once an organization is certified in any management system, the organizations certificate is valid for 3 years. We then carry out surveillance audits every year to ensure the organization is in compliance to their management system by following documented policies and procedures and continually improving their Management System
Recertification audit
A Recertification audit is carried out at the expiry of the certificate for renewal of the certification and to ensure that there is compliance to organization laid down policies and procedures.
What does ISO Certification cost?
The cost is based on variables including what standard you want, the size of your company and number of employees. Following an initial discussion with you, we provide you with a fixed fees for the duration of the audit and certification.
How long is the ISO Certification valid for?
Once an organization is awarded an ISO certification, it is valid for 3-years. A QMS established for certification must be maintained on a regular basis to stay compliant and achieve intended objectives. QMS must be maintained for both continuous improvement and for recertification.
How long does it take to achieve ISO Certification?
The timescales for ISO Certification depend on a number of variables including the size and complexity of your business, the number of employees, the standard/s you require and how much of the required support documentation is already in place.
Which ISO Standards do we need?
ISO has published more than 21,584 standards and has members in 162 countries, and 788 technical bodies for standard development. ISO’s most widely used management system standards are ISO 9001:2015 for quality management and ISO14001:2015 for environmental management, ISO 45001:2018.
We offer certifications for these and other ISO Standards.
ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System
ISO 22301:2019 Business Continuity Management Systems
ISO 14001:2015 EMS Environmental Management Systems
ISO 45001:2018 Occupational Health and Safety System