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ISO standards are internationally agreed guidelines put in place worldwide by a body of sponsored international government experts. These standards apply to products, services, manufacturing, production and processes, management, supply of materials, delivery of services and a wide range of other business activities.

They indicate and describe management standards and best practices for management systems related to Quality, Environmental, Health & Safety and many other processes and services.

These internationally recognised guidelines allow companies to adhere to the best and most appropriate management systems for manufacturing in industrial, commercial and private business sectors.

ISO certification is a way of identifying and describing a process using business metrics. This certification aims to ensure better management and control of business processes. Such goals are probably already part of your business’ core operating functions. These metrics allow you to have a formal process-based management system driven from the top by senior management to ensure communication at all levels of the company to better understand your business system’s performance against the goals and objectives.

Obtaining an ISO certification indicates to your clients that you have a management system in place, ensuring your manufacturing process, documentation, and business procedures follow all of the strict requirements of the ISO standards and is regularly audited by an independent 3rd party.

Achieving ISO certification is not difficult, providing you obtain the correct advice and guidelines from a fully qualified consultant. The following steps will help you get your ISO certification:

• Selecting the right certification standards required for your organisation
• Developing a management system
• Selecting the right certification body
• Getting your stakeholders & staff on board
• Carrying out a full internal audit to identify shortfalls within the system
• Completing the stage 1 audit by an independent UKAS certification body
• Completing the stage 2 audit by an independent UKAS certification body

Once the above steps have been completed, you can be awarded a recommendation for certification and proceed towards acquiring the actual certification.

There are a lot of different UKAS-approved certification bodies. When you are in the process of choosing a UKAS ISO certification, it is vital to pick the right certification body. This selection will have a huge influence on your implementation costs. Hence, you should check the potential certification company for the following qualities:

• Reputation
• Experience
• Specialisation
• Flexibility
• Language
• Are they themselves accredited by UKAS? If not, why?

If you choose to use a knowledgeable consultancy company, they should be able to help you choose the most cost-effective procedure and save your company money. Also, checking the certification body selected by your competitors and finding out about the services included will help.

Getting your UKAS ISO certification is not cheap. It will cost a few thousand pounds for a consultant to develop a management system for implementation. The certification body audit fees will be included on top to be paid directly to the chosen body on request of a quotation. You should remember this point and be very clear about it before selecting the certification body. Moreover, be aware that you will have to pay an annual fee on a yearly basis to the certification body for an annual surveillance audit.

The process of ISO certification is not complicated, but it is extensive. The following steps will help make the procedure easier to understand and navigate. They are:

• Initial reviews
• Writing manual and procedures
• Reviewing manuals and procedures
• Making necessary changes to the manual and procedures
• Sending manual and procedures for documentation review
• Clearing any N/Cs found
• Completing the internal audit
• Clearing any N/Cs found and having a management review meeting
• Completing the accreditation audit
• Clearing any N/Cs found in the process
• Sending action plan to the certification body (this has to be done within 21-days and closing all the N/Cs found)

This is an outline of the ISO certification process.

Usually, when you have obtained your accreditation/certification and have received your certificates and certification body’s logos for company documentation, letterheads and business cards, you will be given access to your chosen body’s website and directed to the client portal. Here, you can download additional information and relevant documentation for your company. You will also be able to verify your chosen body on the UKAS website.

ISO certification UK is the ISO standard as maintained and monitored in the United Kingdom. The process of acquiring the certification is not that different, but the process is handled by the ISO authority of the country instead of the international authority. So, ISO certification UK is everything related to ISO standards in the country.

If you wish to verify if a company is ISO 27001 certified, you have to ensure that the accreditation body subscribes to IAF (www.iaf.nu). You then have to contact the certification body and ask them to confirm the validity of the certification.

Some certification bodies will provide the information through their website, and some will seek permission from their clients first. If you wish to verify the ISO 27001 certification for your organisation, please visit IAF CertSearch, put the business name in the search bar, and the information will be easily available.

The usual cost for ISO 9000 certification is between £3000 and £6000, including the certification body audit fees in the UK. As this is a certification that has to be renewed every 3 years, you will have to continue paying the amount of money, as decided by the ISO authority of the country, at that interval. This will continue unless the ISO authority states otherwise or you decide to forego the certification.

ISO 27001 certification is the internationally recognised set of specifications for ISMS or information security management system. It is also the only auditable standard available that deals with the overall management of information security, instead of the one dealing with the implementation of technical control. This certification shows that an organisation has invested in people, processes and technology to protect the data associated with the organisation. It also offers an independent assessment of whether the data is sufficiently protected or not.