Industry Engagement and Committees

NQA truly values the merit of technical leadership to drive not only the Testing, Inspection and Certification (TIC) industry forward, but the industries of our clients also. As a result, NQA is involved in a number of technical committees in order to steer the direction of industries, and ensure that our customers' voices are heard.

Take a look at some of the many industry associations and regulators we are involved with below:

ABCB – Association of British Certification Bodies

The ABCB was founded in 1984 in order to form an association in which Certification Bodies could collaboratively work together towards improving the certification industry. The ABCB is today recognised by the UK Government and UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Services).

NQA is a gold member of the ABCB, and our Global Accreditation Director, Steve Russell, is the current Chairman of the Association. Working alongside Wayne Terry, CEO of ABCB, Steve regularly meets with other members to update on industry changes and advancements. Speaking recently, our Global Accreditation Director, Steve Russell, commented “NQA’s membership of the ABCB opens up our capacity to liaise nationally and internationally with UKAS, the IAF (International Accreditation Forum) and other certification bodies on new and revised standards, industry knowledge and how we can all collaboratively move our industry forward.”

To find out more about ABCB click here
To view our certificate click here

FCB – Federation of Certification Bodies

The Federation of Certification Bodies (FCB) is a membership group for accredited certification bodies. The FCB meet regularly to discuss and debate industry best practice, industry updates and management system standard updates in order to ensure industry development and industry consistency. NQA is a member of the FCB and has been for many years.

To find out more about the FCB click here: http://www.fcb-uk.co.uk/FCBUK/

SSIP

SSIP (Safety Schemes in Procurement) supports the construction industry by providing a route towards mutual recognition amongst health and safety registrations and certification. The goal of SSIP is reduce the number of registrations a company needs to be assessed against in order to satisfy health and safety prequalification requirements for contracts.

NQA has been actively involved in supporting and developing SSIP since its inception. NQA is an elected member of the SSIP Forum Management Group and a UKAS accredited certification body offering SSIP to customers holding ISO 450001 certification. This Forum Management Group sets out the rules for the SSIP scheme and guides the direction of SSIP.

Nick Wright, NQA Managing Director and Elected SSIP Forum Management Group member, “We strongly believe in the mission of SSIP to improve health and safety in construction. SSIP adds value by reducing administrative burden on business and raises standards in prequalification processes. As a member of the Forum Management Group, we help chart the development and direction of SSIP.”

NQA works within SSIP and its membership to enhance understanding and improve working practices between accredited certification bodies providing ISO 45001 certification and Registered Members such as CHAS, Construction Line.

https://ssip.org.uk/

ADS Membership

NQA is a member of ADS, the Premier Trade Organization for companies in the UK Aerospace, Defense, Security and Space sectors. Membership affords NQA access to a rich source of information, advice and expertise in these sectors. The CBMC is the UK National Industry Committee operating as part of the European Aerospace Quality Group (EAQG).

As part of our membership we work very closely with ADS to support and host industry events where we meet many of the ADS members and share our industry knowledge with them. This helps ADS members to not only prepare for their aerospace scheme assessments, but to also stay ahead of the market place as well as assisting them on their improvement journey.

Through our ADS membership we are also involved in a number of the industry committees such as The Aircraft Interiors Group, The Space Special Interest Group and the Engineering Standards Group. Here we get involved at an industry level to understand the needs and desires for the schemes and also some of the issues currently facing the industry. This enables us to upskill our audit team and allows us to focus on the right areas during our surveillance and recertification audits with clients pushing the industry forward as a whole.

Michael Venner, Aerospace Business Unit Director, “Being a member of ADS is vital to our success. It brings us even closer to industry to better understand their needs and can help us to resolve some of their issues through our audits. The knowledge that is transferred between both parties is ensuring the success of the aerospace standards within the industry.”

CQI and IRCA

The CQI and IRCA are one of the most important stakeholders in the quality industry. The Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) is the professional body for experts focussed on improving the product, project and service quality. NQA work with the CQI and IRCA on multiple levels including:

CQI and IRCA Approved Training Partner (ATP) – NQA’s training division is a longstanding ATP with the CQI and IRCA and as a result we are able to offer our clients and industry a plethora or CQI and IRCA accredited Training such as Internal Auditor, Lead Auditor and Risk Management courses. To find out more click here
Support and partnership at the International Quality awards – In 2019, NQA was proudly the Headline Partner for the CQI and IRCA’s 100^th anniversary International Quality Awards and prior to this in 2018, we had the pleasure in sponsoring the Emerging Talent Award. In addition to this NQA’s Commercial and Customer Experience Director has also had the honour of being asked to judge the entries for the Emerging Talent Award.
Technical knowledge sharing at branch events – NQA regularly supports local branch meetings of CQI members by presenting on relevant industry topics and trends such as the 2015 transitions, industry specific requirements and core legislative updates.

“The work that the CQI and IRCA do to support the quality and professional industry is outstanding and it is a privilege to work so closely with them across each of the areas above. As a judge for the International Quality Awards, it has been fantastic to see so much talent in our industry each doing their bit to improve standards around the world. It is also exciting and invigorating to see the new emerging talent entering our industry and has provided a welcomed insight into what the future of our industry may look like – we have exciting times to come!” Laura Fletcher, NQA’s Commercial and Customer Experience Director.

MOD

NQA is a proud supporter of the Corporate Covenant and since pledging support has successfully achieved the Silver Award for the Employer Recognition Scheme. As a result of this NQA regularly supports the MoD at recruitment fairs and encourages service personnel and service leavers to consider a career in the TIC industry.

NQA also has the pleasure in supporting the MoD during supplier events by providing guidance on how supplier can ensure best practice through the uptake of management systems certification, as well as providing technical presentations and support to attendees.

For more information click here: https://www.nqa.com/resources/news/mod-silver

UKAS – United Kingdom Accreditation Service

NQA’s Global Accreditation Director, Steve Russell, is a longstanding member of the UKAS Management Systems Technical Advisory Committee. This committee of key stakeholders is an advisory and non-executive forum used to supplement UKAS’s internal technical expertise on matters related to the development and operation of UKAS activities.

This involvement allows NQA to have input into Accreditation activities, the development of schemes and regulations as well as inputting into the EA (European Cooperation for Accreditation) and the IAF (International Accreditation Forum). The committee also provides us with access to information on upcoming global developments, as well as enabling us to liaise with a broad base of stakeholders across the industry.