How do HPA achieve ISO certification?
Great question! Achieving ISO certification isn’t overly complicated, but it does take a bit of planning and commitment. Here’s a friendly step-by-step guide to walk you through the process:
- Choose the right ISO standard
Firstly, you need to determine which ISO standard fits your business needs. A few popular ones:
- ISO 9001 – Quality management
- ISO 14001 – Environmental management
- ISO 27001 – Information security
- ISO 45001 – Occupational health and safety
- Understand the requirements
Get familiar with the standard’s requirements. You can:
- Buy the official standard from ISO or your national standards body.
- Hire a consultant (optional) to help interpret the technical stuff.
- Attend training sessions or workshops if you want to upskill your team.
- Gap analysis (optional but helpful)
This is a “health check” to see how you compare to the ISO requirements.
- It helps you spot what's missing or what needs improving.
- You can do this in-house or bring in an external expert.
- Implement the management system
Here’s where the real work begins:
- Create and update documents and processes based on the standard.
- Train staff so everyone understands the changes.
- Make sure you're consistently following the new systems.
- Internal audit
Before going for the real thing, do your own audit:
- Check if everything is being done as documented.
- Fix any issues or inconsistencies you spot.
- Shows you're serious about quality and compliance.
- Management review
Hold a formal review meeting where top management:
- Looks at audit results, performance data, and feedback
- Decides on improvements or changes needed
- Confirms you're ready for certification
- Certification audit
You’ll bring in a certification body (a third-party organisation) to do the official audit:
- Stage 1 – They check your documentation and readiness
- Stage 2 – They do an in-depth audit of your actual operations
If you pass, congratulations—you’ll get your ISO certificate!
- Continual improvement and surveillance audits
ISO certification isn’t a “one-and-done” deal:
- You'll have surveillance audits (usually annually) to make sure you're still meeting the standards.
- Every 3 years, you’ll need to recertify.