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So this is for our ISO Show listeners that are already certified to ISO Standards, in some cases – not that often, some companies can get really fed up or frustrated with their certification body provider.

Now on the whole, accredited CB’s are great – however over the last 14 years we’ve come across the good, the bad and the ugly too!

So, this podcast is for those companies that maybe looking to switch, so we’ll cover…….

Why companies decide to change CB’s

• Can’t get hold of anyone to help them – inform them of change in business and the CB is not adaptable.

• Frustrated with lack of organisation – not keeping client informed, assessor showing up to audit the wrong standard.

• Their CB is not listening to them

• Not happy with the assessor – No really a hard reason – Just request a different Assessor

• Lack of value – assessor shows up later and leaves at 2.00pm and you don’t get the report for another 2 -3 weeks after chasing.

Why switch?

Because you can – you have a choice

• You are the customer – if you raise your concerns and are not being heard, go to another CB that will look after your every need.
• You may get a more competitive service and costs – example clients grown through acquisition
• You are expanding internationally – need a CB with an international presence

How to switch

1. Here in the UK – If you are certified by a UKAS accredited certification body the switch is free of charge to another UKAS accredited CB.
2. Establish your scope of certification and requirements – sites, services, standards.
3. Review your timings – should it be before or after your next surveillance visit?
4. Get three quotes from accredited Certification bodies – explain you’d like a quote for the period of certification including the recertification costs.
5. Provide your requirements – also explain why you are looking to change CB’s as you want assurance that they will be able to provide you with the service you need.

• Consider –
  • Costs
  • number of assessors for your standards on the payrole,
  • Continuity of assessors
  • Location of assessors and your locations
  • Support
  • Key Account Manager / customer services
  • Experience/reputation in your sector / standards
  • Any value adds i.e. webinars, whitepapers, events.

How we can help? – Free service to send an RFQ to CB’s so you can get comparative quotes. We don’t have an exclusive relationship with any 1 Certification Body, but we can help you gain a quote as a free service we offer. If you need help getting a quote, contact us!

Look out for our directory of recommended CB’s in 2021.

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:Share the ISO Show on twitter or Linkedin

Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

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Fail to prepare, then prepare to fail.  If you don’t want to fail an assessment before you’ve even begun, be prepared.

I’m just going to take you through the top 5 mistakes companies make that can lead to stress and failure – now this isn’t a definitive list – there are of course many things that could go wrong, I’m just going to share with you my 5 favourite blunders that you can very easily avoid.

1. Not informing employees

Yes – pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised to hear how many times a Management systems is just kept to one person and a communications plan has not been implemented to inform all employees.  The best informed employees make the best people to be assessed.

Imagine – you are an assessor and you rock up only to hear an employee when asked about their process say ‘What process? What Environmental Policy?

• Business Continuity Planning – What’s the point in having a BCP if no one know how to how to respond to an incident?
• By not informing employees – As it triggers bad vibes i.e nervous, wary, stressed
• Communication plan – CEO, Champions, agenda of meetings, launch, newsletter updates, online comms i.e. slack

• Not having access to the right people
• The assessor doesn’t need to see every single person.
• Does need to see the key process owners and some representatives from the leadership team.
• Quality – operations, HR, key process owners i.e. heads of functions
• Environment – Facilities Managers, an Environnemental Champion.
• Information Security – IT, back-ups, incident reporting, HR (starters/leavers) and physical security i.e. Office Manager or if you are in services offices – give the person on reception the heads up.
• Make sure you have the agenda for the visits well in advance – all reputable UKAS accredited certification bodies should send this to you weeks in advance – if they haven’t chase it.
• This helps you to ensure that the right people are available at the right time.

• Not having access to your management system

Sounds silly, but you’d be surprised.

• We’ve even come across cases of rogue consultants where the Management system is owned (IP and all) by the consultant – not the company. Scary!
• Make sure you have access to your policies, procedures, documents and templates
• These can be online, displayed, hard copy or audio/visual
• Nothing more embarrassing than missing a key document or you’ve got 3 versions of it, and no one know which is the right one.
• Accessiblity is key – Sharepoint/intranet/wiki’s/dropboc

• Not having access to your records.
• Stage 2 Assessment is a ‘Show and tell’ –make sure the right people and have access to the right records.
• Pre-empt any pitfalls  – a disorganised business will have records all over the place – because there is no structure.
• Also, make sure your supplier records are compliant – one of the main causes of non-conformities in Environmental management and Health and Safety is lack of accurate supplier records
• Waste records, Lift maintenance records, FGas records – most of these aren’t ISO Standards requirements – they are LEGAL requirements.
• Legal register/due diligence

And last but not least……

• Don’t make any assumptions

• Don’t make any assumptions that that your assessor will know your business inside out – they won’t understand your culture, vision, values and USP’s.
• Use this as an opportunity to showcase all the strengths of your business and how well managed it is.  With our clients we’ll always get the representative of the leadership in the room for the kick-off meeting –
• Don’t worry the assessor doesn’t need to be glued to the assessors hip all day every day, 30 mins attendance at the kick-off meeting max is suffice. This shows the business is serious about their ISO Commitment and demonstrates that there is full leadership support and that employees are onboard. 
• Likewise – don’t assume that your assessor knows nothing about your industry – in many cases, if you are in a sector, chances are that your assessor i.e. construction, engineering, manufacturing your assessor has seen the good, the bad and the ugly.
• Take notes, so you can refer back to these – as there can be some valuable observations that an assessor may make which you could take back to your continual improvement process.  Don’t assume that these will be captured in the report at the end of the assessment.

So to recap – the 5 mistakes to avoid in an ISO assessment are……

1. Not informing employees
2. Not having access to the right people on the days of the assessment
3. Not having access to your management system
4. Not having access to your records.
5. Don’t make any assumptions

And don’t forget, these mistakes can easily be prevented if you prepare well before an assessment.

In the words of Benjamin Franklin, By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

If you need any assistance with ISO standards, contact us!

We’d love to hear your views and comments about the ISO Show, here’s how:Share the ISO Show on twitter or Linkedin

Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and we read each one.

Subscribe to keep up-to-date with our latest episodes:

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Certification is the last step on your journey to gaining an ISO. Join Mel as she discusses the certification options available and what you need to consider when using a third party Certification Body.

On this week’s episode Mel covers the following:-

• Why choose certification?
• Why not self-certify?
• Make sure they’re UKAS accredited
• Expertise in your sector – SIC codes are issues to assign an assessor to an industry
• Geographical location – Are they local or being flown in from another country due to UK resource issues?
• Availability to fit in with your timescales
• Responsiveness and flexibility – You can ask to change dates if needed
• Make use of other value added i.e. Webinars, e-learning and events
• Access to support
• Flexibility in terms of additional standards (multiple badge assessors)
• Willingness to with you – is the price / number of days negotiable?
• Do they use sub-contractors or their own employees?

Blackmores offers a Free of Charge request for quote service. We send this out to 3 certification body’s and you simply pick which one best fits you. If would like to make use of this service, feel free to contact us.

To help out the ISO Show:

• Share the ISO Show on twitter or Linkedin
• Leave an honest review on iTunes or Soundcloud. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one.