Latest News & Opinion on the ISO Certification Scheme
Quick hit: Court Throws Out Bogus G31000 Suit Against Oxebridge
Just received word that the United States District Court has thrown out the bogus lawsuit filed by Alex Dali and Allen Gluck of G31000 North America, which alleged Oxebridge had defamed them by reporting on G31000 and founder Dali.
Shoot Me Now: Following ANAB’s Lead, Cert Mill Launches Firearm Certification Scheme
Presumably watching as ANAB and Smithers invented SN9001 from thin air, certificate mill operator Daryl Guberman and his partner organization Industrial Leaders Group have launched “ARM9009” a standard that alleges to ensure the quality of firearms and armor manufacturing.
Visual Analysis of ISO TMB’s Transparency Rules
The ISO Technical Management Board (TMB) is responsible for the development of the Annex SL content and “high level structure” requirements that must now be used by all ISO Technical Committees (TCs) when drafting ISO management system standards. Oxebridge has analyzed the language of TMB Rules and discovered that a majority of the language acts to limit or restrict concepts normally considered related to transparency.
ISO Doubles Down on Restricting Waivers to Annex SL
ISO has strengthened language in its ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1, Consolidated ISO Supplement regarding whether ISO Technical Committees (TCs) may deviate from the new “high level structure” (HLS) requirements of Annex SL.
Free Download: “Risky Business – Surviving the Future of ISO 9001:2015 and Risk Based Thinking”
Oxebridge has ended its speaking tour on Risky Business: Surviving the Future of ISO 9001:2015 with a final presentation in New York City for ASQ Section 300. The tour attempted to bring awareness to issues within the ISO standards development process, as well as how companies might leverage some of the deficiencies in the coming ISO 9001 standard to their advantage. Now that the tour has completed, the slide presentation is available for the public.
Chris Paris Challenges ISO 9001:2015 and “Risk Based Thinking” at ASQ NYC Event Nov 12
Oxebridge VP Operations Christopher Paris will present Risky Business: Surviving the Future of ISO 9001:2015 to the ASQ Section 300 in Manhattan on November 12th, 2014. The event will be held at Fordham University, and tickets may be purchased from ASQ via this link....
Live on LinkedIn: Watch IAQG Rep Self-Immolate in Real Time
This thread on LinkedIn is worth reading, in that it perfectly displays the typical response of a standards developer representative when challenged to provide data to support a position. Here’s the link:
ISO DIS 9001 Gets Approved, Proceeds to FDIS Stage
The ISO DIS 9001:2015 standard was approved by a majority of ISO member nations, meaning the standard is tracking for an on-time publication date of late 2015. The countries that voted against the DIS were the United States, along with Canada, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, and South Africa.
ANAB Rules — Cryptically — on the Smithers Complaint
ANAB issues a cryptic message in response to the Oxebridge complaint that Smithers was cross-marketing its SN9001 and ISO 9001 services with that of a single consultant, in violation of ISO 17021. The response is so cryptic, however, it’s not exactly clear what ANAB found, or what corrective actions are being demanded of Smithers. Slap on the wrist for an ANAB business parter?
ISO: “We Are Not Entitled” to Answer Questions on Annual Survey Data
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has refused to answer questions regarding perceived irregularities in the recent ISO Survey data on total ISO 9001 certificates worldwide, claiming it “is not entitled” to do so.
ISO: Certification Bodies Scuttled CERTO Database Plans
According to the program manager responsible for the ISO CERTO database initiative, the combined efforts of certification bodies and accreditation bodies led to the program’s sudden demise. The ISO CERTO project would have finally provided a single international repository for certification information, allowing users and the public to verify a company’s ISO 9001 certification status in real time.
Timeline: The Origin of ISO 9001’s “Risk Based Thinking”
This is a (very) short summary of what we know so far as to how “Risk Based Thinking” got invented and inserted into ISO 9001:2015.
QSHE is BS. Here’s why.
As yet another data point on why the quality profession has failed to gain traction as a “legitimate” career path or discipline, it’s allowed itself to get saddled with entirely off-topic subjects that no one else wants to touch. When a senior executive is looking for someone to manage occupational safety, worker health and the environment, rather than take on three additional salaries for properly trained and qualified experts in each discipline, why not just “give it that quality guy”?
ISO 9001 on the Rebound in USA?
The latest ISO Survey data shows a remarkable reversal in total certificate figures for the United States. In 2013, the US gained a whopping 8,692 certificates, the largest single year increase for the US in the entire history of ISO 9001. If true, this offsets a...
ISO Drops CERTO Certification Repository Plan
Just in: reports are coming in that ISO has dropped its plan to create CERTO, a database of ISO 9001 and other certifications that would have, finally, provided a single, trusted listing of companies that are certified under ISO standards.
G31000 Founder Alex Dali Wanted on Arrest Warrant in Singapore
Documents obtained by Oxebridge reveal that the founder of the risk management group G31000 Global Institute for Risk Management Standards, Alexis Dali, is wanted in Singapore under a 2003 arrest warrant. Officials in Singapore have alerted Oxebridge that Dali will be...
Automotive Expert Dismisses Concerns over IATF Empowerment of Certificate Mills
It started as all ISO-related fiascoes do, with a simple question. Over at our “Ask the So-Called Expert” page, user “TSGoneAstray” asked if the IATF recognized self-accredited certificates mills. The answer also seemed simple. But, alas, these things never go as planned.
Why the “Few Bad Apples” Myth is Hurting ISO 9001 Certification
When it comes to poor audits, and bad auditors, the old trope “a few bad apples” always comes up. The problem is that the phrase is presented as a fact, when it’s just an opinion, and devoid of any actual data. It minimizes the problem of poor certification auditing/auditors and dooms us to a future without any incentive to fix it.
The UKAS Surrealism: The Procedure as Not-A-Procedure
In recent days UKAS ruled that BSI’s Entropy® software does not constitute consulting, and therefore BSI has not violated ISO 17021 by then certifying Entropy® users. We here at Oxebridge have argued otherwise. So who’s right? Let’s check facts.
Top Ten Dumb Things ISO Consultants Say
ISO consultants love to parrot each other. One dummy will say something that sounds reasonably smart, and get picked up by everyone else until it becomes an assumed truth. This is how the meme "say what you do, and do what you say" got started. They tend to cause a...
![[Sticky] Down the Rabbithole: Following Two CB Complaints](https://www.oxebridge.com/emma/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/spiral-397x250.jpg)
[Sticky] Down the Rabbithole: Following Two CB Complaints
Regularly updated, this thread follows the progress of two high-level complaints filed with UKAS against accredited registrars BSI and LRQA.
UKAS Sides with LRQA; Oxebridge Calls Investigation “Deeply Troubling”
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) has ruled that Lloyds Register (LRQA) was in full compliance with ISO 17021 accreditation rules when it issued an ISO 9001 certificate to an organization it had knowledge was circulating counterfeit certificates just months prior. Oxebridge had filed a complaint with LRQA, to which LRQA responded by threatening a lawsuit and blocking all Oxebridge emails. UKAS has also ruled that these activities are entirely consistent with ISO 17021.
EAGLE Defends Scheme to Give “Preferred” Status to Consultants Who Sell for Them
EAGLE Certification Group’s new Director of Business Development Ben Marchant has defended the company’s new “EAGLE Consultant Partner Program”, ignoring accusations that it violates ISO 17021’s requirements of a firewall between registrars and consultants. He characterized the questions about his company’s practices as “aggression.”
Another Quality Moron Has Racist Meltdown
Shaun Sayers of the UK’s Capable People blog, and an official trainer for IRCA and IEMA, responded to a question on LinkedIn related to verifying the credibility of ISO 9001 accreditation bodies. Out of the blue, Sayers chimed in with a racist indictment of Indian culture. Will anyone hold him accountable? Don’t hold your breath.
No Surprise – ANAB Complaint Database is Totally Hosed
In a surprise to exactly no one, any attempt to do the simplest data mining of ANAB's public complaints database proves useless, as it just throws up SQL errors. The database has always been a train wreck, so it's to be expected. When filing a complaint, one is...
Oxebridge Launches New Fan Mail Page to Irritate Critics
Egos are fragile things, and the best way to bulk up a fragile thing is to feed it incessantly. Thus, we invite you to send your emails and comments for our new Fan Mail page, telling us how great Oxebridge is. If you'd like to read what other people have said about...
REPRINT: ISO 9001’s Existential Crisis
(Originally posted 06 Sept 2013) With the Committee Draft of ISO 9001:2015, it's evident that ISO has entered into a full blown existential crisis. I'd say mid-life crisis, but that would assume we are only halfway through the life of ISO 9001, and ISO seems dead-set...
ISO Doesn’t Have Consensus on Whether it Has Consensus
ISO officials cannot agree on whether a single sentence will or will not be removed from all standards, nor what prompted it. But even as they disagree, the claim they are in agreement.
ANAB Opens, Closes, Re-opens Smithers Complaint
After only 48 hours' of investigation, ANAB had ruled that Smithers was not in any conflict of interest over its co-marketing of ISO 9001 and SN9001 services with consultant John Allin. Read the original complaint here, and the ANAB response here. Then compare it with...
Floodgates Opened: Unprecedented CB Efforts to “Partner” with Consultants
In the past there has always been a secretive, wink-wink arrangement between some consultants and certification bodies. This has been because accreditation rules for CBs prohibit them from directly marketing their services with those of a consulting body. So any such arrangements had to be under the table. Now, not so much.
UKAS Responds to Elevated Complaint, Sides with BSI
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) has determined that the practices and products of ISO 9001 registrar BSI do not present a conflict of interest as they do not rise to the definition of “consulting.” UKAS issued this ruling as part of a response to a complaint elevated to it by Oxebridge, which alleged widespread violations of ISO 17021 rules requiring a separation between consulting and certification auditing activities.
Smithers Complaint Escalated to ANAB
The complaint filed against Smithers Quality Assessment has been escalated to ANAB, after Smithers failed to conduct any corrective action.
Minor Tweak Would Allow All 20,000 ISO Standards to be Used for Certification
A seemingly minor and administrative interpretation of a decades-old regulation is now opening up every ISO “deliverable” for usage as a third party certification standard, a move which could mean millions — if not billions — of dollars in additional revenue for Certification and Accreditation Bodies.
ILO Doesn’t Like ISO’s Definition of Risk Either; ISO 31000 Headed for Certification Standard; ISO 45001 Draft Out
A trio of deep-insider tidbits: the ILO doesn’t much care for ISO’s definition of risk either; ISO 31000 is going to be rewritten as a standard for risk management system certification; and ISO 45001 on occupational health and safety is out.
Ask the So-Called “Expert” Your Deepest ISO Questions
Oxebridge is pleased to announce its new web feature, Ask the So-Called Expert, where you can ask your ISO 9001, AS9100 and other related questions directly to our famous VP Operations, Christopher Paris. Go easy, he’s no Einstein.
