The shameless, fact-free marketing of Smither’s pending SN9001 certification program continues apace, with the ANAB-accredited registrar expanding it’s dubious claims not only conceptually, but geographically.

So far, Smithers has made the unsupported claim that SN9001 certification will allow snow and ice management companies to achieve insurance premium reductions, a fact debunked by ISO 9001 experts for over 25 years. (SN9001 includes ISO 9001.)

Then, Smithers carries the ASCA-created meme that SN9001 will somehow intimidate lawyers from pushing forward on liability lawsuits, another claim wholly fabricated without any precendent in the ISO9001 world.

Now Smithers has claimed that SN9001 is “internationally recognized”:

 SN9001 is internationally recognized as the best source of getting process and procedures in place to benefit the snow contractor, their service offering and customer satisfaction.

There are so many problems with this statement, they warrant a numbered list:

  1. SN9001 has only just been released as an available standard, and few companies have even seen it
  2. ANAB has only just completed its accreditation program for registrars
  3. Not a single CB has achieved SN9001 accreditation, including Smithers
  4. As a result, there is not a single SN9001 certified company in the US, never mind the world
  5. The organization that created SN9001 — ASCA — is a US based organization, with no international members
  6. ASCA represents a smaller percentage of the snow and ice management industry than its rival SIMA, and therefore does not even represent the majority of the US S&I industry
  7. ASCA has no reported international activities, and focuses instead on lobbying within the US
  8. Not a single foreign CB or AB has signaled interest in SN9001
The ongoing marketing of SN9001 puts Smithers at risk of violation of ISO 17021, the standard under which it is accredited for ISO 9001 and other standards. Clause 8.1.2 of this standard requires that:

Information provided by the certification body to any client or to the marketplace, including advertising, shall be accurate and not misleading.

Because Smithers is not yet certified to SN9001, a direct complaint cannot be filed with ANAB. Once Smithers is accredited, however, and assuming they do not begin to either retract their claims, or provide proof to support them, a complaint to ANAB against clause 8.1.2 is likely. ANAB’s response will be interesting to watch, as it has strongly thrown its support behind the SN9001 standard. ANAB’s Scott Richter helped develop the standard, ANAB President John Knappenberger gave at least one speech to ASCA on the subject, and ANAB is marketing it pretty heavily.

Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

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