The Certification Process

A GCS Assessor will respond to your enquiry and discuss your requirements. Where possible, we will visit your site to ensure we gain a good understanding of your operations. This also allows you to meet the assessor and establish a working relationship.

GCS will provide you with a fixed fee proposal covering each stage of the certification programme. The assessments can be scheduled as soon as the proposal is accepted.

The Preliminary Assessment includes a complete review of your documented Management System to ensure that it meets the requirements of the standard and reflects the scope of certification. A visit to your site is also usually included to confirm that the internal audit and management review processes are adequate and to confirm the overall preparedness for the Certification Assessment.

The On-Site Certification Assessment will verify the level of compliance to procedures and the effective implementation of the system against the requirements of the standard. This is done through a process of reviewing relevant records and interviewing the various staff members as necessary to provide sufficient evidence of Compliance. Any non-compliances will be discussed with you during the assessment and agreed on at the conclusion of the assessment.

Item Following the completion of the certification assessment process and when there are no Major non-compliances outstanding, all assessment documentation is peer reviewed for final approval and issue of a certificate. The peer review process is also applied for reviewing any modification of the certification scope or status.

If, for any reason, notification is given which may result in a Certificate not being issued, being suspended or withdrawn, the client has the right to appeal. Notification of the intention to appeal must be made in writing and received by GCS within seven days of receipt of notification of the non-issue, suspension or withdrawal of the certificate. An Appeals form will then be sent to the Client for completion and must be returned with supporting facts and data to GCS within 14 days of receipt. The appeal will then be forwarded to a sub-committee of the GCS Certification Advisory Council for review and final decision. Further detail on this process is available from GCS.