WHAT IS ACCREDITATION?

 

There is a popular confusion between the terms ‘certification’ and ‘accreditation’. They are actually very different processes and are undertaken by specifically authorised bodies.
 
Certification is where compliance of a service, person or product is confirmed against a specified set of criteria, which may be a recognised standard such as a BS or ISO.
 
Accreditation is the process undertaken by a body such as the United Kingdom Accreditation Service  (UKAS) who are empowered by the Government to accredit organisations such as certification bodies, inspection bodies and testing laboratories to recognised standards for the services that they provide. It is only when these services are identified within the scope of accreditation that an ‘Accredited Certification’ can be made.

There are over 50 Certification Bodies in the UK but not all are accredited by UKAS under ISO/IEC 17021:2006 (Conformity assessment - requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems) to operate in all sectors of construction.

There are many published standards, championed by various schemes and stakeholders, which are relevant to construction. Some are British (BS) standards whilst others are international (ISO). In some sectors other standards are in common use, for example Safe Contractor and OHSAS in health and safety. There are also highly respected certification schemes that are not truly accredited although they use the term e.g. CHAS.

In the simplest case a company prepares itself to comply with a set of standards and is then inspected by a Certification Body. Assuming there are no non-conformances the awarding body’s Certification Board issues a compliance certificate that normally lasts for one year. The next inspection is usually conducted before the year ends so that certification is uninterrupted.