Regulation's a word that generally produces a groan from most people - but you love it really.
Regulation and Accreditation are words that generally produce a groan from most people; they think of some dark caricature of an auditor enforcing ‘stupid’ rules on an audit where they are checking everything into a minutia of which cannot possible matter, and actively looking for non-conformances.
A classic example thrown around in this discussion in the UK is that of the EU regulation ‘banning’ bendy bananas, which then leads to the popular chorus about why regulators fail to add value to the ‘real’ world.
Working for a Certification Body whose business is built on standardisation, accreditation and quality management, I’m always popular at a party when I say what I do!
It is present throughout every element of everyday life and adds value to people daily. It actually makes your life easier when making a myriad of decisions because you know the safety, conformity and quality of the products or services you are selecting is looked after for you:
- Food standards
Contrary to popular belief, they are more concerned with the safety of the production and transportation of the food you purchase for human consumption than how bendy a banana is. (No really, the banana thing is a myth – check out the directive EC 2257/941 if you don’t believe me.) When this goes wrong you find something happens like the horsemeat scandal2 which makes people realise the downfalls of not having standards or audits to ensure they are enforced.
- International and National Standards
When something is produced to an international (ISO) standard or a national equivalent (BS for the UK) you know that it is produced to a minimum set of quality criteria which means you can source the same item from several suppliers approved to the same standard and know that you will have a product which meets certain criteria. A real-life example of the benefit this brings is when building flat pack.
In my terminology, we were missing a couple of doohickeys which would mean at least 30 minutes on the phone to the supplier of said flat pack, or a BBQ which possibly was unsafe to use.
Fortunately my fiancé is more technically minded than me and knew the doohickey in question was actually a grub screw, so popped to one of his many tool boxes and found the same thing – manufactured by another company but to the same standards, it did indeed fit and saved a lot of stress in trying to get another sent to us or potential BBQ collapse!
- Industry Regulation
Industry regulators ensure your safety and rights. The organisations responsible will vary between industry and countries but an example in the UK is the General Medical Council who register and monitor doctors practising across the country.
Their existence means that the doctors you see have met the required standards and continue to do so, and they will also investigate complaints and remove those from the register where malpractice is found.
Once again, the regulator is ensuring your safety. Another simple example of the benefits of industry regulation is the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) – they’re the people who regulate the parental and age guidance labels on films you may check before allowing a minor to see the film they are asking to.
However accreditation without audits in place to ensure that regulated companies are adhering to the rules they say they will do has no value.
It was international checks and comparisons by the regulators that exposed the diesel emissions scandal3 which has now led to several countries changing the laws around testing to improve the systems and ensure consumers are again satisfied with the level of control in the production of vehicles.
Yes, accreditation is expensive – it does add costs into the system so you may pay a little more for a verified product or service.
Yes, audits can be disruptive to teams and sometimes it can be hard for all team members to understand what the true benefit is, but as a general rule it is your company’s licence to practice and reputation.
I’d challenge you to have a think about what points regulation and accreditation touch your life through the course of the day – when you start to notice them you’ll probably be surprised how much you use the services of companies like mine.
