The Certification Process

Before being audited, customers must prepare a management system compliant with the clauses of the standard(s) that they aim to be certified against. For this you could use a consultant or create your own. OMNi does not provide any form of consultancy so could not assist at this stage.

When you are confident your system is compliant, you should contact OMNi to begin the certification process, and secure dates for your certification audits.

The standard 3 year certification cycle involves initial assessment in the first year, followed by a surveillance in year two and another surveillance in year three. Certification is awarded following successful completion of your initial year one audit, and is maintained by your subsequent surveillance audits in years two and three.

It is important to note that for ISO standards, the initial assessment is broken into two parts — Stage 1 & Stage 2, as per the standards requirements.

Stage 1 is an initial system review to establish that a compliant framework including all mandatory procedures are in place. Once successfully through Stage 1, customers can address any findings raised and proceed to Stage 2.

At Stage 2, an OMNi Auditor will visit the organisation and audit the implementation of the full management system.

In the second year there is one surveillance audit of the management system(s) against a selection of clauses of the standard(s) certified against.

In the final year there is another surveillance audit which assesses the management system(s) to another selection of clauses of your chosen standard(s). All clauses must be audited at least once throughout the surveillance audits.

Should you wish to continue with certification, you will repeat the cycle with one recertification audit in year four, another two surveillances in years five and six and so on.

Additional audits can be required due to changes of scope or nature of business, etc.; however, this will be highlighted and discussed with you before proceeding.

Following a successful Audit by an OMNi Assessor and when certification is recommended, all audit documents will then be reviewed by the panel of reviewers to ensure that the correct process has been followed during the audit and that any findings noted have been replied to and closed off correctly.

The customer is issued with certificates for the standard(s) that they have achieved certification against.

Customers can then inform all of their interested parties of their achievement and begin to use their certification to their competitive advantage. Customers may also use the provided accreditation marks in line with the provided guidance to advertise their standards as appropriate.