Independence, Impartiality & Objectivity
(EN ISO/IEC 17020 – 4.1 & 17024 – 4.3 & 5.1)
The personnel of Code A Weld Holdings Ltd certification are free from any commercial, financial and other pressures which might affect their Impartiality or judgment. Procedures are implemented to ensure that persons or organizations external to Code A Weld Holdings Ltd, cannot influence the results of the inspections and certification carried out. All possible threats that may arise shall be documented, eliminated, or minimized as far as possible by Code A Weld Holdings Ltd. All such information is outlined in the following.
It is the responsibility of the personnel of Code A Weld Holdings Ltd to identify and keep under review all personal, financial, or other interests that may be relevant to the job being performed. Compliance with this requirement is assessed as part of the internal audit program. An annual risk assessment is carried out yearly at the management review meeting. The records of the impartiality risk assessment shall be saved in the current year’s audit file. The Certification Body shall have top management commitment to impartiality. Threats to impartiality shall be identified by using the following methods:
It is the responsibility of Code A Weld Holdings Ltd personnel to identify and keep under review all personal, financial, or other interests that may be relevant to the job being performed.
Should any conflict of interest be discovered, even if it is not clear that it is conflict of interest, in any part of the business, it must be reported to the quality manager.
Code A Weld Holdings Ltd has in place an audit schedule that includes a Management Review annually. Impartially Risk Assessment is discussed between members. The aim of the Risk Assessment is to address, minimize and safeguard any potential or perceived conflicts that may arise in relation to its certification process. The review meeting is made up of the Managing Director of Code A Weld Holdings Ltd, top management from the Inspection/Certification and Quality Departments. The committee convenes at a minimum once a year. Matters that arise of an urgent nature are prioritised and the management will meet to discuss and recommend appropriate course of action.
Code A Weld Holdings Ltd is independent to the extent that is required regarding the conditions under which it performs its services. Code A Weld Holdings Ltd provides “third party” services and meets the following criteria:
Code A Weld Holdings Ltd is independent of the parties involved. Code A Weld Holdings Ltd and its staff responsible for carrying out the inspection are not the designer, manufacturer, supplier, installer, purchaser, owner, user or maintainer of the items which they inspect, nor the authorized representative of any of these parties. Code A Weld Holdings Ltd and its staff do not engage in any activities that may conflict with their independence of judgment and integrity in relation to their certification activities.
In particular, they are not directly involved in the design, manufacture, supply, installation use or maintenance of the items inspected or similar competitive items.
All interested parties have access to the services of Code A Weld Holdings Ltd. There are no undue financial or other conditions. The procedures under which the body operates are administered in non-discriminatory manner.
Code A Weld Holdings Ltd seeks to provide all candidates access to achieve certification in accordance with recognised Standards within the Certification Scheme.