If you thought the ISO 9001 certification bodies were incompetent, you were still blessing them with intellectual powers they never had. Now, we discover, they can’t perform simple manual tasks like using a finger to click on a link in an email, or control their eyes to glance at a picture on their computer monitor.
As reported the other day. Bureau Veritas failed to respond to an 8-month old complaint which found that since 2011, the consulting firm GreenBizCheck has been improperly marketing its services alongside BV’s ISO 14001 certification, and alleging that the combination provides lower cost certification. This is in violation of ISO 17021, which prohibits registrars from suggesting any one consulting service would result in cheaper or faster certification, and requires the CB to take action — including legal action — against any consultant making the claim.
Back in May, BV’s head of certification Iftikhar Baig said the investigation had been completed, and that a final response would be sent to me. Having waited another few months, I checked in by asking Baig of the status. In that email, I included the graphic shown at right, to show that whatever BV may have done to date was wholly ineffective, since GBC’s US office — EcoBizCheck — was still marketing “low cost ISO 14000” alongside the Bureau Veritas logo. I provided this link as well, showing the material was still live on the GBC website. (In fact, as of right now, today, it’s still up.)
But Baig apparently cannot work the muscles that control his eyes, and so could not bother to glance at the image included in the email. He also apparently lacks the dexterity to use a mouse to click a link. Instead, Baig responded with this snippy retort:
Sorry for late response, I have thoroughly checked the EcoBizCheck website and I cannot find any thing related to ISO14001 and/or Bureau Veritas on the website. I think your are picking us the old stuff, which has been fix after your identification.
Notice how he ignored the fact that his previous email dated May 12th had promised to update me on the final complaint investigation. Now, in October, Baig claims it’s all done and shut down, and I’m just “picking us the old stuff.”
Iftikhar Baig
Throughout this entire debacle. ANAB’s Randy Dougherty and JAS-ANZ’ Steve Keeler have been cc’d and notified of every lapse and every move. Baig even cc’d them on his impossibly incompetent response. So far, they haven’t taken action, although I have now notified them that it is their responsibility to process the escalation, including a new complaint that alleges BV has abandoned its responsibilities under ISO 17021 to process complaints and notify the complainant of the outcome. I expect both accreditation bodies to ignore this until I file the associated paperwork separately. We will see.
In the meantime, I have put out a medical alert for BV’s Iftikhar Baig. If he’s unable to move his eyes or control his fingers, he may be a danger to himself or others when doing menial tasks like crossing the street or putting on a shoe.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
