Quality Standards Update

by Paul Scicchitano


Dangerous Games

It is possible to get very different audit results
depending upon which registrar you use.

Some companies are playing a dangerous and potentially costly game with their ISO 9000 registration certificates. But there's far more at stake than just a piece of paper. It's the credibility of the entire third-party registration system.

Here's how the game is played:

Say a company makes plastic bottles that ultimately hold over-the-counter medications. Technically, its business is manufacturing plastic containers.

But all of its clients make medicines. They are in the pharmaceutical business. So the company asks its ISO 9000 registrar if there isn't some way it could be registered under the Standard Industrial Classification code for pharmaceuticals.

Coincidentally, the company's registrar is accredited for pharmaceuticals but not for plastic containers. It would have to undergo a potentially costly and time-consuming process to expand its scope of accreditation to register the company under the appropriate SIC code for plastic containers.

Even more likely is the possibility that the company does not know its SIC code, and the registrar chooses one that may not be the most appropriate for its business.

Many registrars hold multiple accreditations, each based on an industrial classification system that may not be entirely compatible with the other. For example, the U.S. accreditation program for ISO 9000 registrars is built around American SIC codes. The United Kingdom's program is based on British SIC codes, and programs in other countries are based on the General Industrial Classification of Economic Activities within the European Communities (NACE).

Often, there is no direct correlation between the different classification systems. And when registrars attempt to match up auditors with a given background, the conversions can become tricky. For example, British SIC code 2500 is for chemicals and man-made fibers. But that same number is reserved for furniture and fixtures in the United States. The confusion is compounded when registrars affix multiple accreditations to a particular registration certificate.

Companies that get caught up in this game, knowingly or unknowingly, risk losing their registration certificates or suffering marketplace embarrassment. At the very least, they may not be getting the best ISO 9000 audits for their money.

Here's why: ISO 9000 registrars assign audit teams with appropriate industry expertise for each accredited audit they perform based on the client's industrial classification. The makeup of the registrar's governing board must reflect relevant expertise for each industrial classification to which it holds accreditation.

The system is set up this way to ensure that registrars have suitable expertise for the clients they audit. So, when companies register under an inappropriate industrial classification, they may get a less thorough audit.

It is possible, if not likely, to get very different audit results depending upon which registrar you use and which accreditation mark will be affixed to the registration certificate. Misclassified registration certificates may be withdrawn if discovered by the registrar's accreditation body. In practice, however, it is far more likely that the registrar will be asked to reissue the certificate using the appropriate SIC code. The registrar also may be asked to transfer its client to a competitor.

The vast majority of the approximately 70 ISO 9000 registrars operating in North America are accredited through either the Dutch Council for Accreditation (RvA), United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) or the American National Accreditation Program for Registrars of Quality Systems.

Each ISO 9000 accreditation body has its own methods for verifying the integrity of the registration process and for reporting deviations. Typically, accreditation bodies perform only spot checks. Even registrars caught misclassifying companies are given every opportunity to correct problems before disciplinary action is taken.

Some large registrars estimate that only about 1 percent of the total number of accredited certificates they issue are ever scrutinized by any one accreditor. This amounts to a system that places an unusually high degree of confidence in the registrar's ability to put professional integrity above profit. Registrars complain that it can take up to six months to extend their scope of accreditation and can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000.

Ultimately, industry might benefit from an international industrial classification system that aligns the various national systems. But for the time being, you may want to make sure that you get what you pay for when you sign a contract for an accredited ISO 9000 audit.

About the author

Paul Scicchitano is managing editor of Quality Systems Update, a monthly newsletter and information service devoted to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 published by Irwin Professional Publishing, 11150 Main St., Suite 403, Fairfax, VA 22030. Telephone (703) 591-9008, fax (703) 591-0971 or e-mail isoeditor@aol.com.