Quick! Run for cover; they’ve heard us talking about them!

In the UK, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the national accreditation body. There are other legitimate international accreditation bodies that are members of the IAF (the International Accreditation Forum) or members of ILAC (the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) BUT UKAS are the only national body recognised in the UK. Accredited bodies like UKAS ensure that test and inspection providers (the people who issue the certificates) meet the requirements in these standards and that their inspection results are valid and reliable.

We’ve said many times in the past that SMEs are the backbone of the UK, and that remains the same despite the government’s latest attempts to cut small businesses down at the ankles.

Many of these small businesses either complete inspection works themselves (like asbestos inspectors) or they use products or services that have inspection works carried out (use any tools to measure stuff in your work? If so, how do you know they are accurate, have they been calibrated? Or, have you ever been PAT tested?).

The kinds of SME we’ve seen interested in this standard have included:

17021, as mentioned, is the standard that applies to certification bodies (CBs); if you want ISO 9001, 14001, 45001 or any of the many other standards, these are issued by CBs instead. Those CBs do however need to checked to make sure they are doing a proper job. This is where UKAS become involved; companies like BSI and ISOQAR get audited by UKAS to check their competence, independence and that they are doing there assessments properly too.

Labs and calibration businesses also have to be considered competent and reliable so 17025 was developed just for them with a focus on the accuracy and reliability of the measurements that they take on top of their own competency levels. This standard can get very technical in some fields, like calculating the degrees of uncertainty in a reading based on the impacts of temperate on the measurement equipment etc. A standard not for the faint of heart, we’d recommend you have in house resources for this standard.

How Accreditation Standards Affect SME’s

17020, 17021 and 17025 (and others in this series) provide a structured framework for conducting inspections, tests and certifications effectively and impartially. Key requirements include:

When you follow these principles and document evidence to support them, it helps demonstrate your credibility, builds the trust your customers will have in you and can also improve your efficiency in the work you complete.

In the UK, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the national accreditation body responsible for assessing and certifying organisations against ISO 17020. There are other legitimate accreditation bodies that are members of the IAF (the International Accreditation Forum) or members of ILAC (the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) BUT UKAS are the only national body recognised in the UK. Accredited bodies like UKAS ensure that inspection bodies (the people who issue the certificates) meet the stringent requirements set out in the standard and that their inspection results are valid and reliable.

Despite my earlier quip, whilst UKAS are certainly not perfect, we’d still rather have them operating in the UK and regulating industry properly, than having a free-for-all where you have no idea of the competence or honesty of the people providing our goods and services.

In our experience UKAS can be bureaucratic and expensive at times; but this is how the process works:

1. Application and Assessment:

Following initial contact, UKAS will want to know basic information from you like number of employees, what kind of work it is you are planning to do etc. you’ll then be asked to fill out an application form detailing the formal scope of inspection/certification/test activities you want to do and some information about your processes. They’ll send you a quote for the process, then draft up a Customer Agreement which is essentially a terms and conditions/contract that you’ll need to sign and send back to them. UKAS will then schedule in an initial assessment to review your management system documentation and your on-site activities.

1. Application and Assessment:

Following initial contact, UKAS will want to know basic information from you such as number of employees, what kind of work it is you are planning to do etc. you’ll then be asked to fill out an application form detailing the formal scope of inspection/certification activities you want to do and some information about your processes. They’ll send you a quote for the process, then draft up a Customer Agreement which is essentially a terms and conditions / contract that you’ll need to sign and send back to them. UKAS will then schedule in an initial assessment to review your management system documentation and your on-site activities.

2. Audits and Compliance Checks:

You will be visited by UKAS auditors to verify your compliance, they will check personnel competence records, your levels of impartiality to the people you are inspecting/certifying and your overall adherence to your own documented methodologies. This visit can be intense and usually UKAS send auditors in pairs, one being knowledgeable about management systems, and the other an industry/technical expert for the industry that YOU work in. For example, grain inspections on cargo ships, they will send someone with experience of grain and international shipping etc. Obviously, this can be a challenge for very specialised industries; one “expert” we have met was well into his seventies and came out of retirement just to do the visit. The number of days this process takes are based on the complexity and size of your org.

3. Accreditation and Monitoring:

If successful (when successful if you use us!), you’ll receive your accreditation, valid for a specified period. UKAS will then conduct periodic surveillance visits to ensure continued compliance. This can include them coming with you to your customers to witness your inspections. UKAS attendance during CB customer audits is very common (there have been several times we’ve had customers undergoing certification for ISO 9001/14001/27001 etc. only to find the auditor was also being assessed by UKAS).

Obtaining UKAS accreditation is a big and sometimes scary process; but it’s a brilliant way of demonstrating your professional credibility and gaining access to larger clients and government contracts.

Many SMEs across a plethora of diverse industries and sectors can find themselves needing to demonstrate their impartiality, credibility and technical competence. These ISOs are a great way prove you’ve got those aspects within your business.

UKAS are the UK’s ONLY national accreditation body, don’t be fooled. They provide independent verification of compliance and are recognised by the UK government and the IAF. If you want to establish yourself as a trusted provider of these types of service in the UK, then UKAS are your best bet.

We’ve got significant practical experience in dealing with UKAS and taking our customers through accreditation to these standards. If you are interested in going through this process yourselves or just have any extra questions burning away in your head then feel free to drop us a message using our contact form.