THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Not all certifications are equal...
A Simple Check To Save You Time and Money
Most companies desire ISO 18788 and PSC.1 certification
because they see it as a competitive advantage, it is
required by an organization to which you belong, or
because it is a contract requirement. Therefore, you want
to ensure that what you buy is going to be recognized by
potential customers or organizations.If you are a private security company (PSC) looking for
credible internationally recognized certification, or you are
a member or planning to join the International Code of
You can check to ensure what you are buying will be recognized by taking 3 simple due diligence steps
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Ask any potential Certification Body to show their certificate of accreditation from their national Accreditation Body for the specific standard you are seeking.
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Check on the IAF MLA website to confirm whether that national Accreditation Body is part of the International Accreditation Forum Multilateral Recognition Agreement (IAF MLA) group.
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And if they are, then check with the Accreditation Body itself to confirm they have accredited that Certification Body for that specific standard.
Conduct Association (ICoCA) for Private Security Providers, then you need to achieve recognized certification to either: PSC.1, ISO 18788, or ISO 28007 as part of becoming a full member within two years of joining. It needs to be issued by a Certification Body authorized through the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and its multilateral recognition agreement (MLA).
The ICoCA has, as part of its Certification Procedure (Article 11.2.1) issued certification recognition statements for PSC.1,
ISO 18788 and ISO 28007; they explicitly include the words: “such certification to ISO 18788, [or ANSI/ASIS PSC.1-2012
or ISO 28007] must have been obtained from an audit company accredited by a national accreditation body that is a member of the IAF/MLA.”
And the ICoCA ‘Certification Procedure’ includes “Members may present evidence of certification by an independent accredited certification body under the newly recognized standard as part of their completion of the ICoCA Certification Process.” With a footnote that states “Where applicable to a given standard, an independent accredited certification body” shall be any auditor or group of auditors who have achieved accreditation from their national accreditation service to certify companies to the proposed standard, provided that their national accreditation service is a member of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and its multilateral recognition agreement (MLA). In the event that IAF / MLA organisations are not applicable to a given standard, the Board will define criteria to ensure the competence and independence of external certification bodies.”
At present only two national Accreditation Bodies have schemes in place as part of the IAF MLA to support these specialist standards due to their highly demanding and complex nature: The UK Accreditation Service (UKAS), and the US ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB).
