ABSTRACT
Certification of management systems The fact that an organisation claims to operate a management system is, of itself, not a guarantee that the management system is adequate or effective. This has long been recognised in the case of product and service quality and has led to the development and implementation of a certificatable quality management standard, ISO 9001. However, for there to be a valid certification process, there are several requirements: • there must be a written standard for the management system with which the organisation seeking
certification must comply • there must be companies employing disinterested and competent auditors who can assess whether an
organisation is complying with the written standard; this part of the process is usually referred to as external audit, or simply audit
• there must be an authoritative body which verifies that the auditors remain disinterested and competent, and accredits the organisation that employs them to issue certificates of conformity to the relevant Standard; in the UK, this function is performed by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
