Accreditation
ISO 9001 — Quality Management System
The short version
- Issued byUKAS-accredited certification body
- Typical cost£4,000
- RenewalEvery 3 years
- Who needs itElectricians, gas engineers, heating engineers, plumbers, builders, groundworkers, roofers
What you need to get it
6 requirements, and what counts as evidence for each.
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Develop a Quality Management System.
Write and implement a QMS covering: quality policy, objectives, process mapping, document control, records management, and customer feedback. Your QMS must address all requirements of ISO 9001:2015. Evidence: QMS manual and associated procedure documents.
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Internal Audit Programme.
Conduct at least one full internal audit of all QMS processes before your certification audit. Internal auditors must be trained. Evidence: Internal audit schedule, completed audit reports, and auditor training records.
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Management Review.
Hold and document at least one management review meeting covering QMS performance, customer satisfaction, and objectives. Evidence: Management review meeting minutes.
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Corrective Action Process.
Establish and demonstrate a process for identifying non-conformances and tracking corrective actions to closure. Evidence: Non-conformance register with examples of corrective actions.
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Customer Satisfaction Measurement.
Implement a method for measuring and analysing customer satisfaction. Evidence: Customer satisfaction survey records or feedback log.
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Stage 1 & Stage 2 Certification Audit.
Engage a UKAS-accredited certification body (BSI, NQA, Bureau Veritas, etc.). Stage 1 reviews your documentation; Stage 2 assesses implementation on-site. Evidence: Engagement letter from certification body. Completed Stage 1 document review.
What you have to keep doing
Getting it is the easy part. Keeping it means:
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Annual Surveillance Audits.
Annual surveillance audits in years 1 and 2 of the 3-year cycle. Re-certification audit in year 3.
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Ongoing Internal Audits.
Continue internal audit programme annually.
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Ongoing Management Reviews.
Hold management reviews at least annually.
Is it worth it?
At £4,000, the question isn’t the fee — it’s whether it wins you work. For electricians it usually does, because it’s the first thing a cautious customer or a commercial buyer checks. Most trades hold accreditations and then hide the logos in the footer. If you’ve paid for it, it belongs where customers actually look.
Tracking it in Gaffer
Accreditations lapse quietly. The renewal date lands in a busy month, nobody spots it, and you find out when a customer asks for the certificate. Gaffer keeps your accreditations, evidence and renewal dates in one place and reminds you before they expire.