“A little drained”, that was how ACM Certification’ Technical and Compliance Manager, Karen Holbrook, felt recently after eleven days of being audited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
Just like our clients, ACM Certification Limited is audited every year by UKAS to ensure that we are fit to continue as a UKAS-accredited Certification Body.
The audit involved an examination of our competence and our processes, including:
- checking that we have only certified organisations in the sectors for which we are approved;
- that auditors, decision-makers and staff competencies are to the required standards and our process is robust and effective;
- ensuring that we comply with the correct number of audit days for each standard and clients that have integrated management systems, and;
- checking that our management system is robust, effective and continually improving.
Karen went on to say: “The UKAS audit was a very detailed and thorough examination of ACM Certification and how we operate. At the end of eleven days, I felt a little drained. This is probably how our clients feel when we go in to audit them! At the end of the audit, UKAS recommended ‘continued accreditation’ for ACM Certification, which was the outcome for which we were aiming. The audit has also helped us to identify a number of areas in which we can improve and I am grateful to the UKAS audit team for their diligence and their expert input. It also confirms the high standard of the ACM Certification team work and our continuous improvement and total compliance where its needed”
Continued accreditation is crucial for ACM Certification to be able to continue as a UKAS-accredited certification body and for our clients to be able to use the prestigious UKAS “tick and crown” certification logo.
The UKAS audit process also provides ACM Certification’ clients with the re-assurance that the organisation has been independently scrutinised and is competent and operating within the strict guidelines set down by UKAS for certification bodies.