Third party certification

[edit] Introduction

If an item has third party certification, it means its buyers and specifiers can have confidence that it has been endorsed by an independent third party. Essentially, this means that the third party (i.e an independent organisation which is not connected in any way to the maker or supplier) has inspected the product, manufacturing process, system or service, and has determined that it complies with specific safety, quality and performance standards.

In arriving at this review, the third party may have visited the company offering the product/service, or the manufacturing plant or building etc and vetted any necessary paperwork.

Almost anything can be accredited (or certified) to give users or purchasers of the product/service confidence in it. This covers a wide variety of areas such as:

• Counselling and psychotherapy courses
• CPD, training and degree courses
• Electronic signatures
• EMAS Verification
• Energy
• Environmental
• Food Safety
• Information Security
• Management systems
• Materials (e.g they may be accredited as being responsibly sourced)
• Occupational Health and Safety
• Health and safety consultants
• Persons
• Product, service or process
• Quality

[edit] BREEAM third-party certification

BREEAM is an international scheme which provides independent third-party certification of the sustainability performance of masterplanning projects, individual buildings, communities and infrastructure projects, from new construction to in-use and refurbishment.

Assessment and certification can take place at a number of stages in the built environment lifecycle, from design and construction through to operation and refurbishment.

In the case of BREEAM, third-party certification involves the checking – by impartial experts – of the assessment of a building or project by a qualified and licensed BREEAM Assessor to ensure that it meets the quality and performance standards of the scheme. At the heart of this process are certification bodies – organisations with government approval (through national accreditation bodies) to certificate products, systems and services.

[edit] Global BIM Certification

A further example is accreditation by BRE, which offers Global BIM Certification for individuals who have successfully completed the BRE Academy BIM Essentials and BIM Level 2 for Information Managers training or equivalent (both available as classroom attendance or online). Those who think they have the necessary credentials can apply and, if accepted, will receive an audit request which must be successfully completed prior to certification being issued.

[edit] Accrediting the accreditors

Organisations which undertake the accrediting of products/services can themselves be accredited. This is usually undertaken by the UK Accreditation Service (UKAS), the UK’s sole national accreditation body which is recognised by the government (although independent of it) to assess against internationally agreed standards. UKAS assesses those organisations that provide certification testing, inspection and calibration services. UKAS works in the public interest to determine the technical competence and integrity of these organisations.

[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki

• BREEAM.
• BREEAM Responsible sourcing of materials.
• Certificates in the construction industry.
• Display energy certificate.
• Environmental Impact Assessment.
• Environmental plan.
• Home quality mark.
• How to check certification.
• Life cycle assessment.
• Material procurement.
• Recyclable construction materials.
• Sustainable development.
• Sustainability.