Certificate Transfers

Certificate transfers

Certificate transfers seem to be on the rise. A Certificate transfer is where you move from one Certification Body to another. If both CBs are UKAS accredited, this is a pretty seamless task, with the new CB taking over from the previous. Why do companies want to do this? The prime reasons are either poor customer service or poor auditor relationships. It has to be said, it is usually the larger CBs that companies transfer away from. A lot of the large companies have been involved in mergers and acquisitions, or are listed companies where shareholder returns are as (or more) important than happy customers. Poor customer service is usually described as not returning emails, not getting through to anyone knowledgeable (or anyone at all!) at the CB, poor appointment setting, and unclear cost structures. Poor auditor relationships are typically due to ‘difficult’ or opinionated auditors, who audit against their own views and values, rather than the Standard.

We have just been asked to transfer ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certificates for a large multi-site commercial vehicle hire company operating throughout the UK, with locations in the West Midlands and across England. The reasons were precisely those above, in fact, a culmination of all of them!