Certification Process
Accredited Certification schemes provide independent third party assurance of an organisation’s ability to work to a specification.A specification can be a national or international standard, a customer defined brief, a regulatory requirement, a franchise agreement etc. EQA clients must also operate in accordance with the EQA (Ireland) Scheme Regulations
An organisation requiring management system certification is required to have a set of documented procedures which satisfy the requirement of the relevant standard. A common misunderstanding of management system certification is that documented procedures are required for EVERYTHING. Since the changes to ISO 9001 in 2000, the focus of management system standards have been on continual improvement rather than on documentation (ISO 14001, ISO 22000 and OHSAS 18001 have all been developed to be compatible with ISO 9001).
An organisation requiring product certification must have systems of work in place to guarantee that the product will consistently meet the required national or international standard (This can include training, Security of Records, Documentation and Purchase of compliant materials). Clients must operate in accordance with the EQA (Ireland) Scheme Regulations and product scheme regulations.
The assessment or audit is a sampling procedure to satisfy EQA that the written procedures and/or documentation requirements are being followed and meet the requirements of the relevant standard. Management commitment, staff awareness and efficient auditing (where internal audit is a requirement) have to be demonstrated. The assessor uses his/her experience to interview members of staff to establish confidence that the system is managed, understood and in place.
For installed product certification (e.g. intruder alarm), EQA will sample a number of sites from completed installations. The assessor will visit the sites to confirm that the installations are fully compliant with the relevant standard.
For Guarding Security certification, EQA will sample a number of guarded locations. The assessor will visit these locations to confirm that activities are fully compliant with the relevant standard
The assessment begins with an opening meeting where the assessor agrees the programme and explains how apparent problems are recorded. The assessment ends with a closing meeting where all the findings are tabled.
The assessor produces a detailed report which is examined by EQA and copied to the applicant. The applicant must correct all problems before a certificate is awarded and is asked to send the details of all corrections to EQA for approval. EQA may require to re-assess the applicant’s corrections or may accept the written evidence.
EQA carry out regular surveillance visits at the frequency detailed on the quotation. Surveillance visits are mini assessments designed to ensure that the certificated organisation is maintaining compliance with the relevant standard. If EQA are not satisfied with the surveillance findings or receive serious customer complaints they will re-assess the organisation’s systems.
Management system certificates are issued for a period of 3 years, after which a
re-assessment audit will take place and a new certificate will be issued. Product system certificates are issued for a period of 2 years, a new certificate will be issued every 2 years (subject to continued conformance with the standard).
Please note: All assessments are performed on the basis of limited sampling. If discrepancies are not discovered, there is no guarantee that they do not exist.
The assessed scope may be revised on application to EQA. Simple extensions to assessed scope may be examined during a surveillance visit. More complex extensions may require further assessment (application for extension to scope must be submitted in advance of an audit taking place).
