ADVICE & OPINION
OUR STANDARDS. YOUR GUARANTEE.
FMJ AIMS TO SUPPORT TECHNICAL EXPERTISE IN THE FM MARKET
CHSA’s Accreditation Schemes guarantee standards in the cleaning and hygiene sector
Buyers of cleaning and hygiene
products can be certain they
get what they pay for thanks to
the Cleaning & Hygiene Suppliers
Association’s (CHSA) Accreditation
Schemes. The Schemes cover
manufacturers of so tissue, plastic
sacks and mops and distributors of
cleaning and hygiene products. The
only way facilities managers can be
certain the product they receive is not
‘short’ in number or size, common
problems with non-Accredited
products, is to specify Scheme
Membership. It guarantees what’s on
the box is what’s in the box.
Many end users already know and value
the benefits o ered by the Accreditation
Schemes and demand their distributors
provide CHSA Accredited product and
adhere to the ethical principles that
underpin the Schemes and the CHSA’s
tough Code of Practice. Major purchasing
organisations including the Yorkshire
Purchasing Organisation (YPO) and the
National Procurement Service (NPS)
for Wales are also benefiting from the
guarantees provided by the Accreditation
Scheme. A member of the Accredited
Distributor Scheme the YPO says:
“Being an Accredited Distributer means
we can continue to pursue the best
standard of product available in the in
the industry, making sure our valued
customers are getting what they pay for.”
The NPS turned to the CHSA to support
it Refuse Sack Tender Process, the CHSA
16 NOVEMBER 2019
tested samples to ensure they matched
the specification.
Users of cleaning and hygiene
products are demanding the best –
CHSA Accredited product from CHSA
Accredited Distributors.
Underpinned by Independent
Inspection
An accreditation scheme is only as good
as the standards it stipulates and the
processes in place to make sure scheme
members stick to the rules. This is why
the CHSA invests in a rigorous auditing
process, at the heart of which is the
Independent Inspector. An experienced
quality assurance professional, the
Inspector has worked with the British
Standards Institute and the European
Standards Committee. He has been
auditing CHSA Accreditation Scheme
members since 2014.
The auditing process begins with
a submission by the member or
prospective member (passing the initial
audit is a condition of membership)
of a full product list. A site visit is then
arranged. It starts with a review of the
quality assurance procedures before
an inspection of the warehouse and
manufacturer’s facilities as required.
The Inspector selects product as he
wishes and checks label compliance.
Every label must be traceable to the
manufacturer and batch. It must include
the relevant Accreditation Scheme logo
and indicate the product dimensions and
count. Where required, an indicator
of fitness for purpose must also be
provided. For example, plastic refuse
sacks must define light, medium and
heavy duty according to weight. The
Inspector also takes samples from the
warehouse for o site testing. In the
case of manufacturing members, a
few samples are also taken from the
production line.
Back at his testing laboratory, the
Inspector assesses each product
against the specified Scheme Standard.
The length and width of so tissue
products are measured, and the
number of sheets counted. The
dimensions of plastic refuse sacks are
measured and the number in each
carton counted. A representative
sample is then put through the British
Standards Drop Test. Each sack is
filled with the specified weight and
dropped from a defined weight and
examined for tears or ruptures. The
number of cotton mops in each box
is counted and their weight recorded.
Following the addition of System mops
to Socket and Kentucky mops in the
Scheme Standard, the length and /
or circumference of the mop is also
recorded. To maintain Accreditation,
every member is audited at least once
a year.
Accredited Distributors must sell
only CHSA Accredited product or
product that conforms to the specified
standard. Therefore, only non-CHSA
Accredited product is taken o site for
testing.
Schemes with bite
Committed to the integrity of the
Schemes, the CHSA’s governing Council
will expel any Scheme member who,
in spite of being o ered the guidance
required to correct issues, consistently
fails to conform to the relevant Scheme
Standard.
Excellent compliance
Each year the inspector audits almost
5,000 products across all four of
the CHSA’s Accreditation Schemes.
The results are published annually,
compliance across all four schemes
being shown to be consistently high.
Published in Spring 2019, the
2018 audit results showed excellent
compliance. The results for the
Accreditation Scheme for Distributors
showed an average of 97.5 per cent of
relevant products across all Accredited
Distributors were from CHSA Accredited
Manufacturers.
Label compliance in 2018 for the
Accreditation Scheme for Manufacturers
of Plastic Refuse Sacks is 98.8 per cent.
Plastic Refuse sacks are tested to see
if they are fit for purpose using the
British Standards Institute Drop Test.
Performance is assessed by combining
the Drop Test results with the count and
dimensions of the sacks. Compliance in
2018 was over 91 per cent.
The results of the Accreditation
Scheme for Manufacturers of So Tissue
also showed high levels of conformance.
Label compliance was 89 per cent or 95.9
per cent excluding minor infringements,
and dimensional compliance is 92.4 per
cent excluding minor infringements.
Members of the Accreditation
Scheme for Manufacturers of Industrial
Cotton Mops achieved near perfect
conformance on label and product
performance.
A long-standing commitment to
standards
The CHSA’s commitment to standards
spans more than 30 years, the
Accreditation Scheme for Manufacturers
of So Tissue being established in 1997
to combat the challenge of product that
was undersized or not as advertised.
Since then the CHSA has introduced
new Schemes, the most recent being the
Accreditor Distributor Scheme launch in
January 2017. With e ect on 1 January
2020, every distributor member of the
CHSA will also be formally Accredited.
www.chsa.co.uk
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