ISO 9001 Accreditation and Safety
People often associate an ISO 9001 accreditation with quality control and safety; this is a common misconception that could potentially be life-threatening. Product safety standards in the UK fall under the auspices of the British Standards Institute. The standards for any given item will be published in a document that lays down the specifications the item must reach. The approved item will carry a kite mark and a reference to the standard that governs it, for example BS1234.
The way in which the items are assessed is that they are tested in a laboratory to the specifications stipulated in the published document. For example if a crash helmet must be able to resist an impact of x amount, then the samples will be subjected to that force. The helmets will then be assessed for damage, if the damage is such that cranial injury is likely to be the result the helmets will not be granted the approved kite mark. So a ladder which bears an ISO 9001 accreditation but no kite mark is not fit to be used, whereas a ladder bearing the kite mark but no ISO 9001 accreditation is.
This is because the ISO 9001 standard is referring to a set of guidelines that promotes a quality management system that insures a consistent and improving level of quality. Not a reference or endorsement of the actual physical quality of the end product. The reason for this is so that the same guidelines can be applied to any company, regardless of what its product and manufacturing methods are.
The British Standards Institute on the other hand, concentrates on the end product and though it does not worry itself with the actual manufacturing process, the final product must comply with the specifications documented in the standard that refers to that item. So an item that fails the standard is not fit for the job and should not be for sale in Britain.
With ISO 9001 accreditation the company’s quality management scheme declares that the procedure has to continually improve the quality of the end product. The company is partially assessed every six months and completely reassessed every three years, failure to comply with the recommendations issued by the auditors after each assessment means that the certification will be rescinded.
So if for example you were to go shopping for a crash helmet. You find one you like and find that the company received ISO certification five years ago and the BSI approval for the helmet three years ago you can be certain that the helmet is of a higher quality than the one the BSI originally approved. This is all down to the way in which the ISO guidelines are designed.