Expired ISO Certificate

What you need to know and do if your ISO certifcate has expired

Has your ISO Certificate expired?

Andy Adams, ISO Consultant with Quality systems Consultancy can help you.

There are dozens of reasons why companies allow their ISO certificates to expire, these range from the costs of maintaining the certificates through to a genuine oversight.

Whatever the reason, if you have decided that you need to get recertified then let QSC Consultancy Ltd help your business achieve certification.

To ensure that your system is in a position the following areas should be considered:

• Arrange to have a complete review of your system, especially if it has been a while since your certificate expired. Typically, a Gap Analysis is a good way of reviewing the system. This helps to identify strengths as well as weaknesses in the system. Additionally, review your last external audit report to see if any non-compliances were identified to allow a starting point for reviewing your system.
• Following the review, where areas of weakness (non-compliance(s) are identified improvements will need to be carried out and implemented to close the noncompliance(s).
• As part of the review the company should consider carrying out a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Target (SWOT) analysis of the business. This should be done with involvement from all employees.

The benefit of doing such analysis will help the business identify risks and opportunities for improvement, which can then be risk assessed to identify the major issues and encourage focus on these areas to drive improvements. Where opportunities are identified, these again can be promoted to gain the opportunity identified.

The standards require the business to identify objectives that are measurable. From the SWOT this will allow the company to select the higher risks, select a couple to reduce / achieve (target) and measure the improvement.

• Training and awareness for your staff is critical. Without training how are they to know about the system and what roles and responsibilities they are expected to carry out?

Training can take various forms, from simple toolbox talks through to full academic courses. Most businesses tend to carry out toolbox talks with all the staff on different topics related to the Integrated Management System (IMS). The training must be recorded and maintained.

• When all of the issues identified in the Gap Analysis have been completed, then Internal Audits should be completed followed by a Management Review.
• Once the Management Review has been completed, then you can opt to have a UKAS Certificated Certification Body audit your IMS, or if you feel UKAS is not important, we can offer to do an External Audit on your system. Following successful completion of the audit, we will award you with a certificate to show that your system meets the criteria of the ISO standard (s).

So to conclude, to get recertified, start by completing a Gap Analysis of your system and identify the areas of compliance and non-compliance.

Implement improvements to the system as necessary.

Train the staff in the system to ensure the company gets the best from them, and they understand their roles and responsibilities.

Carry out Internal Audits and finally a Management Review.

Then arrange for an External Audit to take place.

If you require Recertification of your ISO Certification and the services of  an ISO Consultant, call Andy Adams at Quality Systems Consultancy on 01889 881887 / 07900 558547 or for an informal and confidential discussion. Our head office is located in Staffordshire and we work throughout the UK.

Andy, our ISO Consultant has 30 years wealth of experience and knowledge, is a chartered member of IOSH and a fully qualified ISO Consultant and UKAS Auditor.