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The Different ISO Roles – You (The Driver), Your Driving Instructor, Your Driving Examiner
ISO certification involves different roles and understanding them helps you manage the process effectively. Here’s a simple analogy using driving.
The Driver
- Represents your business.
- You operate your system day-to-day.
- You are responsible for maintaining compliance.
The Driving Instructor – Your ISO consultant
- Represents the consultant.
- Guides you through the process.
- Helps you learn and apply ISO principles to meet ISO requirements.
- Works with your business to design and implement the management system.
- Provides training, documentation, and audit preparation.
- Goal: to help you pass the certification audit.
The Driving Examiner – Your ISO assessor and your certification body
- Represents the certification body – the auditor.
- Assesses whether you meet the relevant standard.
- The assessor “recommends you for registration” if you pass.
- The company’s technical committee will endorse his / her decision.
- The company then awards the certificate.
- Conducts Stage 1 audit – checks to ensure all the requirements have been documented and met
- Conducts Stage 2 audits – checks to ensure that your practices, the activities you undertake on a daily basis, tally with what you’ve said in your documentation
The Driving Examiners Driving Examiner - UKAS
Clearly, we don’t want any old Tom and Dick and Harry tossing out ISO certificates like confetti at a wedding. So, the certification bodies need policing, and the certification body police are called UKAS, The United Kingdom Accreditation Service.
So, UKAS:
- Audits the certification body, not your business.
- Ensures the certification body operates to international standards.
- Maintains trust in the certification process.
Why this matters
Confusing these roles leads to unrealistic expectations. Consultants don’t issue certificates and auditors don’t design and implement systems. Each role has a clear purpose.