'Certificates offer founded confidence'

Certification involves an objective and independent assessment of whether a process meets the predetermined certification requirements from a certification scheme. A certificate has a certain period of validity. During the period of validity it is periodically examined whether the requirements from a certification scheme are still met.

Founded in 1828, Bureau Veritas has over 75,000 employees worldwide in more than 1,600 offices and laboratories. The sheer size of the multinational provides it with an extensive network of auditors from all industries, as well as a wide range of accreditations. All over the world, they conduct audits and determine whether companies meet the set requirements and relevant laws and regulations within their industry. Within concrete and steel construction, these include the standards ISO 9001, ISO 45001, ISO 4001, ISO 3834, NEN 1090, VCA and the Safety Culture Ladder. 

There are several reasons, but increasingly organizations need to justify choices made, and certification may simply be a requirement to deliver at all. Certification helps ensure compliance. Moreover, management can benefit from the objective judgment of the audit team. 

The certification process takes place through a number of established phases. During the first phase, the certifying body studies the activities, nature and scope of the organization. It also assesses the content of the management system and determines whether it meets the set requirements. It also examines whether the system has already been implemented within the organization. A condition for proceeding to the next phase is, for example, whether the management system has already been implemented within the organization for some time and can therefore be tested. 

During the phase 2 audit, the system is tested for implementation. The test is carried out on the basis of interviews, observations and the assessment of documents and registrations, among other things. An audit is always conducted by a qualified auditor. "This auditor must be demonstrably 'familiar' with the sector within which the audit is conducted," says Lead Auditor Jeroen Wijkstra. "The auditor therefore knows what is going on within the sector and can therefore make connections with the correct interpretations." An audit is concluded through a so-called "closing meeting. During this meeting, the results of the audit are fed back by the audit team. An organization may need to implement corrective measures as a result of an audit before it can proceed to certification. 

During the certification process, a long-term relationship develops in which secrecy, confidentiality, impartiality and independence play an important role. The audit team gets to know the certificate holder through and through and sees "blind spots. Therein lies an important added value of Bureau Veritas. "Among other things, our employees are periodically trained on integrity. This provides them with an intrinsic reliability and the certification process maintains its value."