Apart from the Takata airbag scandal, another one has risen up, this time with deaths caused from defective airbags produced by ARC Automotive, from Knoxville TN. The situation here is much worse, as ARC reportedly “stonewalling” the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation, a position that is not likely to end well for ARC, since it appears likely to end in an arrest. So far one person has died from a defective ARC airbag, and another injured.
We are still navigating the maze of registrars who issued ISO quality certificates to Takata, and now we find a similar situation related to ARC. Sources from within the company tell Oxebridge that ARC had been ISO/TS 16949 certified for their quality management system by BSI, with one of the auditors being Raman Sachhathep of Atlanta. His LinkedIn profile indicates he has not worked with BSI since 2009, so it’s likely his work with ARC ended at the same time, but this would also have been around the same time that the troubled inflators were being manufactured, based on the model years of the cars involved in the defects. Sachhathep has not yet responded to inquiries about this subject. A formal request made to ARC requesting the latest copy of their ISO certificate went ignored.
BSI, you may recall, lobbied to remove a requirement from accreditation rules which required ISO registrars to maintain a public directory of their clients; BSI argued that the registries allowed competing registrars to “poach” their clients, and ignored the public benefit of such registries, which allow the public to verify ISO 9001 and related certificates. BSI was successful, and the latest edition of the accreditation rules, ISO 17021-1, did remove the requirement. As a result, it becomes nearly impossible to verify certificates if a registrar elects not to provide a registry, or simply doesn’t wish to do so.
The BSI Americas website still has a public registry, but it does not show any records for ARC Automotive. Sources within ARC told Oxebridge that Intertek has since taken over the certification, and a rep with Intertek told Oxebridge that this only occurred recently, and that no audits by Intertek have yet been performed. This means that between the years of 2009 to present, it’s not clear if BSI held the certification, or if another registrar had picked it up prior to Intertek. So far, BSI has not responded to a request for information about ARC.
Intertek previously declined to provide information on its role in the Takata scandal, refusing to confirm sources that said it held the ISO 9001 or TS 16949 certificates for the US Takata plants responsible for those defective airbags. Records show the sites were originally registered by Entela, which was purchased by Intertek, who would thus have taken over all audits of those plants. There is currently no explanation as to why Intertek has no record of this.
BSI was reported as the registrar of the BP Oil management firm in Houston that oversaw the Deepwater Horizon rig prior to and after the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the largest man-made environmental disaster in history, which caused multiple deaths. TUV Rheinland was involved in the PIP breast implant scandal, and NQA held NASA’s AS9100 quality certification during the shuttle Columbia disaster.
More and more, ISO registrars are found at the center of these disasters and controversies, and routinely the registrars “lose” or obfuscate any records of their involvement. Despite the resulting ISO certificates openly, and publicly, claiming that the entirety of a client’s quality management system complies to the standard, and despite the standards including language that should prevent such scandals, the registrars nevertheless claim their certifications are the product of “sample audits” and “snapshots in time,” and they are thus not responsible for anything that happens at a certified company. This runs contrary to the marketing language of the registrars and their oversight body, the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), which insist that such third-party audits provide “objective assurance” of the compliance of such companies’ quality systems.
Oxebridge is attempting to testify before the US House Committee on Science, Space and Technology after ANSI CEO Joe Bhatia testified to the committee, ensuring the US Congress that all was well with both ISO standards development and certifications under his watch. ANSI is responsible for the accreditation of the registrars, having oversight over ANAB in the US. Oxebridge has revealed that ANAB routinely ignores complaints against registrars, and even allows its auditors to sleep during oversight audits of registrars, while ignoring violations. As a result, Oxebridge hopes to correct the official testimony, and ask the Federal government to issue a 10-year moratorium on requiring ISO certifications in any Federal contract, to give time for ANSI to get its house in order, and to fully cooperate in the ongoing investigations of these industry scandals. The basis of Oxebridge’s argument is that by enforcing the rules that currently exist, ISO registrars would not issue certificates to companies involved in such scandals, and thus inhibit their ability to gain access to contracts in the automotive, aerospace, medical device and other fields.
Oxebridge is also pushing to have the various CBs included in post-accident investigations, since their auditors were likely exposed to evidence prior to each incident.
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