Accredited Management System Certification Rules
Introduction
In today’s fiercely competitive environment of the global marketplace, it has become imperative for companies over a wide range of manufacturing and service sectors to provide assurance of the quality of their products or services through the implementation of ISO 9001 / 14001 / 22000 / 45001 management systems. These standards stipulate the minimum requirements for a documented Quality / Environmental / Food Safety / Occupational Health Safety system to be established, and a Certificate of Compliance to these standards has now become an international criterion for assessing a company’s credibility and capability to consistently meet quality standards to customer satisfaction.
Purpose
The purpose of this description of the Sparkle Management Services certification rules is to provide relevant information regarding SMS services for conducting our impartial and competent assessment of a company’s management system for the issue and maintenance of an accredited certification to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 20000-1, ISO 27001, ISO 13485 and ISO 50001 standards.
Scope
The accredited certification scheme operated by Sparkle Management Services is a third party system certification scheme with an objective of giving recognition to companies who have effectively implemented and operate a verifiable documented system. It covers the following scope:
- Preliminary meeting to establish scope of registration and the applicable standard.
- Conduct of independent audits for certification.
- Issue of accredited certifications as per accredited scope sectors.
- Surveillance visits for verification of conformance of quality systems to the certification standard.
- The organisation needs to develop a system in respect of the applicable management system standard for which they need the certification.
Certification Procedure
- Enquiry and Fee Quotation — Upon receipt of an enquiry, the Sparkle Management Services questionnaire is required to be completed by the applicant company. Based upon the information provided, a detailed offer is submitted for the client’s consideration and acceptance.
- Application — Upon confirmation of acceptance of the SMS fee offer and receipt of the client’s application together with the application fee, the process of certification commences with scheduling of audits on mutually agreeable dates.
- Extension of Certification — Whenever clients apply for the extension of scope / addition of sites, facilities etc., the same is verified during a special visit or at the next surveillance audit, and an amended certification is issued for scope extension on the basis of audit reports and decisions.
Audit Process
Documentation Review and Stage 1 Audit — For most management systems, it is recommended that at least part of the Stage 1 audit be carried out at the client’s premises. An on-site review of the client’s documented management system is conducted to verify that the requirements of the applicable ISO standard are satisfactorily addressed. A report is issued listing any non-conformity against which corrective actions are required as per a corrective action plan. The degree of implementation of the quality system is also assessed to agree on a tentative Stage 2 audit schedule. In particular, the records of the internal audit, corrective actions and management reviews shall be verified to assess the level of implementation, so as to ensure that the management system is mature before the Stage 2 assessment.
Stage 2 Audit — Following the Stage 1 audit, SMS will conduct a Stage 2 certification audit to assess conformity with the requirements of the applicable ISO standard. A report categorising any non-conformities or weaknesses in the implementation of the documented system is issued.
Corrective Actions and Follow-up — The company is required to submit a Corrective Action Plan addressing the non-conformities within a given time frame. Corrective actions against all major non-conformities require to be verified during a follow-up visit and / or through provision of objective evidence of effective implementation, prior to confirmation of certification.
- In the event of major non-conformities being identified (Category “A”), a recommendation for certification is made subject to a CAP being submitted within 2 weeks and corrective actions being verified on-site through a special visit within 8 weeks of the assessment date, before certification is granted.
- Where the audit has revealed only minor non-conformities (Category “B”), the certification may be recommended subject to the CAP being submitted by the company within 2 weeks together with objective evidences of the corrective actions taken. The plan is required to be closed out upon physical verification at the first subsequent audit.
- Where “opportunities for improvement” (Category “C”) are recorded, the actions are observed for effectiveness at the subsequent audit visit.
Issue of Certificate
Upon completion of the review of all audit documentation and corrective actions being closed out, Sparkle Management Services will issue the Certificate of Registration to the company.
Validity and Renewal of Certificate
Certificates issued by Sparkle Management Services remain valid for three years, subject to the conformance of the management systems to the certification standards being verified and found satisfactory during periodical surveillance audits. Upon expiry, the Certificate of Registration is renewed for a further term of three years after conduct of a satisfactory re-assessment.
Surveillance Audit
SMS certifications are issued subject to the maintenance and continual conformance of the documented management systems to the certification standards. Surveillance audits shall be conducted at periodic intervals at least once a year during the three-year term of validity, followed by a re-assessment of the systems for renewal of the certification prior to its expiry. In case of nine-monthly surveillance audits, 3 surveillance audits will be conducted, and in case of six-monthly surveillance audits, 5 surveillance audits will be conducted during the validity period.
Special Audits
A special visit may be required to be made to the certified company’s premises in the following circumstances:
- SMS has reason to believe that the documented systems are inadequately maintained with major deficiencies in operation.
- In case of any change in the management system standard due to which the certification requirements are going to be changed, the client will be intimated in advance for the transition audit.
- Upon intimation by the certified company of any significant change in the certified documented system, including extension of scope.
Suspension, Withdrawal, Extension and Reduction of Certification
The grounds for suspending the certificate are as follows:
- If the certified organisation is not getting the surveillance audit conducted as per the certification agreement.
- If the client is found to misuse the logo of the Certification Body or is using any kind of misleading statement which might affect the reputation of the certification body and the accreditation board.