Another Global First for LRQA . . .

ISO/IEC 17021 Accreditation

UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) has accredited LRQA as the first certification body on a global level to make the transition to ISO/IEC 17021 accreditation.

ISO/IEC 17021 is the ISO standard which gives the requirements for certification bodies delivering all types of management system certification.  The new standard requires changes to the ways in which assessments are to be performed by certification bodies.

LRQA is the only certification body to be awarded ISO/IEC 17021 accreditation by UKAS for all three management system products: QMS (ISO 9001), EMS (ISO 14001) and OHSMS (OHSAS 18001) for all industry sector scopes.

“We were first to be accredited by UKAS back in 1986, receiving registration number 001”, said Jenny Butler, LRQA Corporate Quality Manager, “22 years later, we are proud to still lead the way as the first global body to achieve this higher accreditation for the three main types of management system certification, covering all industry and business sectors”.

What’s involved for us . . .

Accreditation places rigorous requirements for competence and impartiality on the bodies that offer audit and certification to management system standards like ISO 9001:2000 (quality), OHSAS 18001:2007 (health & safety) and ISO 14001:2004 (environmental).

ISO/IEC 17021 replaces and improves on two separate documents, ISO/IEC Guide 62:1996 and ISO/IEC Guide 66:1996.

How it may affect you . . .

There are two major changes which will impact organisations with certified quality and environmental management systems.

1. ISO/IEC 17021 strengthens the requirement on certification bodies for a three year certification cycle with a recertification audit, including a new requirement that the recertification audit and the decision on issuing the new certificate must be performed prior to the expiry of the existing certificate.



2. ISO/IEC 17021 also introduces a new requirement with regards to the way in which “Minor Nonconformities” (minor deficiencies present in a management system that is being audited) are addressed during the certification process.Under the new requirement (which only applies to new certification or recertification visits - NOT surveillance visits), certification bodies are not allowed to issue a certificate to an organisation where Minor Nonconformities have been raised until it has reviewed and accepted the organisation’s plan to correct the issue in question.In such circumstances, LRQA will ask you for a corrective action plan to ideally be agreed with the assessor before they leave the site or for you to e-mail your corrective action plan to pca@lrqa.com within 30 days of our visit.

When it all starts . . .

The International Accreditation Forum (IAF), in consultation with ISO, has set the date for implementation of ISO/IEC 17021 as 15 September 2008.  However, LRQA is starting to implement the above two changes, which will affect clients from 1 July 2008.

For more information . . .

Call us free on 0800 783 2179 or e-mail us at enquiries@lrqa.co.uk

Posted: April 23rd, 2008.

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