Worldwide Quality Assurance

ISO 9001:2008 is the International Standard for Quality Management Systems (QMS).

It provides your company with a set of principles that ensure a common sense approach to the management of your business activities to consistently achieve customer satisfaction.

Who is ISO 9001:2008 applicable to?

Any organisation can benefit from implementing ISO 9001:2008 as its requirements are underpinned by eight management principles:

• a customer focused organisation
• leadership
• the involvement of people
• ensuring a process approach
• a systematic approach to management
• a factual approach to decision making
• mutually beneficial supplier relations
• continuous improvement

What are the benefits of registration?

• Customer satisfaction - through delivery of products that consistently meet customer requirements
• Reduced operating costs - through continual improvement of processes and resulting operational efficiencies
• Improved stakeholder relationships - including staff, customers and suppliers
• Legal compliance - by understanding how statutory and regulatory requirements impact on the organization and its your customers
• Improved risk management - through greater consistency and traceability of products and services
• Proven business credentials - through independent verification against recognized standards
• Ability to win more business - particularly where procurement specifications require certification as a condition to supply

How to gain registration?

The process of registration follows three simple steps:

• Application for registration is made by completing the QMS questionnaire
• Assessment to ISO 9001:2008 is undertaken by WQA - the organisation must be able to demonstrate that its quality management system has been fully operative for a minimum of three months and has been subject of a full cycle of internal audits
• Registration is granted by WQA and maintained by the organisation. Maintenance is confirmed through a programme of annual surveillance visits and a three yearly re-certification audit.

Initial Certification Audit

The assessment process for achieving certification consists of a two stage Initial Certification Audit as follows:

Stage 1 - the purpose of this visit is to confirm the readiness of the organisation for full assessment. The assessor will:

• confirm that the quality manual conforms to the requirements of ISO 9001:2008
• confirm its implementation status
• confirm the scope of certification
• check legislative compliance
• produce a report that identifies any non-compliance or potential for non-compliance and agree a corrective action plan if required.
• produce an assessment plan and confirm a date for the Stage 2 assessment visit.

Stage 2 - the purpose of this visit is to confirm that the quality management system fully conforms to the requirements of ISO 9001:2008 in practice. The assessor will:

• undertake sample audits of the processes and activities defined in the scope of assessment
• document how the system complies with the standard
• report any non-compliances or potential for non-compliance
• produce a surveillance plan and confirm a date for the first surveillance visit
• If the assessor identifies any major non-conformance, the organisation cannot be certified until corrective action is taken and verified.