UPDATE: 1 December 2024: A representative of Lloyd’s Register (LR) clarified that two years ago, LR pulled a “Perry Johnson” and split off its ISO certification body as Lloyd’s Register QA (LRQA). Or, rather, it was the other way around, since the name “LRQA” has been around for decades. Frankly, I can’t keep up.
Anyway, he insists that they are totally, for sure, absolutely, yeah-right, separate companies now with no shared responsibilities.
He then insisted that LR isn’t a certification body, even though LR is very much still a CB, just for products. Potayto-potahto. But since LR doesn’t certify management systems, presumably, the entire bit below is now moot.
How much do you want to bet the Saudis are buying one service from LR and another from LRQA? But, sure, this kind of system-gaming is what passes for ethical conduct among certification bodies these days. LR will write the documentation, LRQA will certify it, and everyone will say, “Nothing to see here.”
When I asked him why LR was getting into bed with corrupt Saudis who claim to hold ISO certifications to standards that you can’t actually get certified to, he didn’t reply. Saudi money will do that to you.
UPDATE: 2 December 2024: To their credit, LR took the matter seriously, and I received a call from a representative from Poland about the issue. I explained that I don’t think any formal complaint can be filed if LR and LRQA are separate companies. She confirmed that they are. So, the matter is going to be closed without action. The Saudis win again.
An official press release issued by the Saudi Ports Authority “Mawani” should raise a whole lot of red flags for everyone involved. It announced that Mawani has signed an official agreement with ISO certification body Lloyd’s Register to produce quality management system documentation and systems, and then help “secure international certifications, including ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015.” The only problem is that a CB like Lloyd’s cannot both write the system documentation for the system they later intend on certifying.
Now, to be fair, the press releases (which appear in a different form here) don’t outright say that Lloyd’s will be the one issuing the certificates later. It only says that Lloyd’s will be “developing guidelines and manuals, such as a Quality and Environmental Procedures Manual compliant with ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2015 standards.”
So, it will be interesting to see if, in a year or so, Lloyd’s will issue the certificates, as we probably expect.
The entire thing stinks to high heaven, as do most things from Saudi Arabia. First of all, older press releases claim Mawani was already awarded ISO 9001, like this release from June of 2022. So I’m not sure why they need to hire Lloyd’s to do it over again. I suspect the first one was fake, or just a press release and no actual certificate was ever issued.
Next, Mawani already holds a bullshit certificate for ISO 31000, the risk management guidance document that you can’t actually get certified to. They brag about it in press releases, but never show the actual certificate, so we don’t know which scam CB issued it. Or if Mawani ever got one at all. But, to be clear, it is impossible to achieve certification to ISO 31000, since it’s a guidance document, not a management system standard.
Mawani claims certifications for a host of other standards, including ISO 27001, ISO 37301, and ISO 22301. The only certificate I could verify was for ISO 37301, issued by TUV Austria, for some reason. No other certifications for the Saudi Ports Authority appear in IAF CertSearch.
It certainly looks like the corrupt Saudi government is just claiming fake certifications and now hiring Lloyd’s to help issue more of them. But, again, we will have to wait and see if Lloyd’s issues the certificates. if so, these press releases are going to come back to haunt them.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 30 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