How ISOs Work

 ISO certification proves to your customers and clients that you are serious about quality, about reducing your impact on the environment and about health and safety.

The International Standards Organisation has created a set of management standards. These management standards are often misunderstood. They do not tell you how to run your business. They do not tell you how to go about your day to day activity or impose particular ways of working. What they do is set out a regime that encourages you to write down what is important to you and how you will achieve your goals. It then provides a framework for checking that you are meeting your own expectations, that you are doing what you said you would and for assessing whether or not what you are doing is effective.

Customers like to see an ISO Certification because it means you are serious about continual improvement and about meeting your objectives. It also means that a third party has looked at what you do and how you do it and has certified that you are meeting your promises about quality, environmental performance and health and safety management.

To be effective you must ensure that what you write down is actually what you do and that the goals you set for yourself are realistic and proportionate to the size of your business and your ability to make an impact. That is why our systems are so good and make so much sense for our clients. They are designed to make the most of our clients' existing good practices and to eliminate bad practice without costing the earth or taking up hours and hours of management time. Our system is a tool for good management.  It is painless, it doesn't impose an extra burden beyond good management, is easy to maintain and is therefore effective.

Do not be confused between ISO 9000 and ISO 9001. The 01 standard is the one that defines the requirements you must meet for certification. There are several other documents within the ISO 9000 suite but they contain things like definitions. The same is true for ISO 14000 and ISO 45000. The ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 standard is the one you must meet.

 ISO certification begins by setting out the processes and procedures you follow to ensure good quality services or product. It includes identifying your good practices and your bad practices and your goals and it includes identifying the risks to your business and your business opportunities.

If you are applying for an environmental certificate, it will also assess your impact on the environment and what you can realistically do to reduce that impact. If you are applying for a health and safety certificate, it will also identify the hazards in your business and how you manage them.

This analysis is written into a management system manual, along with how you will monitor your day to day activity and how you will review its effectiveness at achieving your goals.

Your clients will then want to see a certificate from a third party that confirms that your systems meet the standard and that you are complying with them. We will guide you through this process and help you select the certifying body.

An ISO certificate is valid for three years but surveillance audits must be conducted by the certifying body every year. So every year, you conduct an internal audit and carry out a review to make sure that the system is working the way it should. This is followed by the surveillance annual audit by the certifying body who reissue the certificate if they are happy you are doing what you said you would. Every three years, the certifying body conduct a requalification audit which confirms that you are complying with the standards and are making improvements in line with your goals.

Of course, we can help ensure that these external audits and re-certification go smoothly.