Russell Fewins Accreditation - Background to BS 8522

Russell Fewins was one of the early accredited BS 8522 commercial removals companies.  Detailed below is an explanation of what BS 8522 is and what it means for businesses requiring commercial removal services.

BS 8522 draws heavily upon the original "domestic removals" quality standard BS EN 12522 and also shares some elements with BS EN 14873, the "storage standard".

These three standards have all been developed to provide the moving industry with recognised, specific and measurable benchmarks which are relevant to its particular activities, unlike more generic quality standards such as ISO 9001.

The development of the Commercial Moving Standard was initiated by BAR and went through an interim stage for approximately one year during which it was known as PAS 126 (a BSI "Publicly Available Specification" with subsequent upgrading into a full British Standard in June 2009.

Although a considerable amount of the text was re-written and re-organised, there are very few material differences between PAS 126 and BS 8522. It is now published in one single part whereas the PAS was in two parts, which has made it simpler to follow.

BS 8522 Implementation

Some elements of the standard are mandatory, i.e. the standard says that certain measures "shall" be carried out and sometimes the exact requirement is specified.  During audit by the certification company, any shortcomings against those will result in a "non-conformity" which will have to be remedied before a certificate is issued.

In other areas the standard is less prescriptive and there are recommendations for best practice. When assessing a company's performance against those, an auditor can show greater flexibility and if there is room for improvement the report will include appropriate recommendations and these will be followed up during the next year's visit.

BS 8522 has been written by persons with experience and understanding of the industry and a well-run commercial moving company should find it easy to follow and should not have any difficulty interpreting and implementing the requirements (as can occur with more generic standards such as ISO 9001).

The standard covers the three phases of the work: firstly the initial contact, survey and quotation; then the carrying out phase; and lastly the follow-up including quality measurement and remedying any shortcomings.

In developing the standard, considerable input was gathered from clients e.g. professional Facilities Managers, who made an invaluable contribution to the development committee meetings. Their involvement ensured that the standard is meaningful and respected in the marketplace; it is already becoming a regular requirement for major tenders in both the public and private sectors.

Scope of the BS 8522 Standard

The standard covers the following areas:

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  Initial contact and preliminary information (enquiries, surveys, quotations)
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  Professionalism of the personnel (performance and presentation)
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  Competence of operational personnel (experience, training)
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  Vehicles (suitability, condition and maintenance)
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  Packing materials (suitability and adequacy of range and stocks)
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  Key documents – specific contents of quotation and job sheet
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  Subcontracting (control of subcontractors and ensuring consistent performance and compliance with the standard throughout a move)
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  Liability / provision of insurance
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  Claims and compensation for loss or damage
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  Equipment (adequacy, training of operatives)
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  Health & Safety
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  Security
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  Monitoring the service (customer satisfaction analysis and follow-up)
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  Complaint and feedback handling
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  Corrective action
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  Quality Policy contents, communication and review
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  Quality Manual – to contain all the operational procedures, certain other prescribed procedures including recruitment, training, maintenance of equipment, incident handling, quality control
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  Document control

When a commercial moving company engages QSS (Quality Service Standards Ltd) to carry out its assessment and certification processes, a full day's "Initial Assessment" will be carried out by QSS to audit the company's compliance against the standard. Following this (and subject to the clearance of any non-conformities) a certificate will be issued, usually valid for 12 months. Annual assessments are then carried out, each taking a half-day and normally leading to renewal of certification for a further 12 months (subject to any non-conformities).

QSS holds accreditation from UKAS for its work on BS EN 12522 and is currently awaiting extension of its scope to include this new standard, BS 8522:2009.

For more information contact the Russell Fewins team on 0800 783 7795 or email us.