SNA inspection: Help, I have a major. Now what?

SNA inspection: Help, I have a major. Now what?

Suppose you have an inspection performed for the SNA seal of approval. Within four weeks of the inspection, you receive the inspection report containing the verdict. There are then three possible outcomes:

1. No deviations have been found. The company satisfactorily meets the requirements of the hallmark and receives a positive assessment.
2. There are one or more minor non-conformities or remarks. These must be repaired before the next inspection, but for now the company sufficiently complies with the requirements of the SNA hallmark. In certain cases, restoration must be demonstrated in the interim.
3. One or more major nonconformities have been identified. The company does not meet the requirements of the SNA hallmark.

What happens if a major non-conformity has been established? And how can you still obtain or maintain the SNA hallmark?

Major non-conformity

If the inspection reveals a major non-conformity, it is established that the company does not comply with one or more NEN 4400-1 and/or NEN 4400-2 requirements. Non-compliance with these requirement(s) therefore constitutes an immediate and high risk. In order to meet the requirement(s), the company must in this case implement immediate remediation. For the time being, no positive opinion can be issued in the report.

Is this the case? Then you will receive a draft report within 20 working days after the inspection. Your company will have 10 working days to respond to the content. This period is meant to refute observations made. This may be the case, for example, when the company has additional information regarding the major nonconformity that was not available at the time of the inspection. When the finding of a major nonconformity becomes definitive, it has consequences for the continuation or effectuation of the registration in the Labor Standards Register. The company will be suspended from the register.

Additional inspection or new registration

If you, as a company, wish to lift such a suspension, the major non-conformity found must be repaired and we will test the repair. With an additional inspection the company can prove that it meets the requirements of the SNA quality mark again. Without the additional inspection, the result remains insufficient and the company will be permanently removed from the register.

A supplementary inspection can take place if a company, within 30 working days after the date of the final report, reports the recovery to us as an inspection body and indicates that it wishes to have this checked. This additional inspection will then specifically include the repair of the (previously) identified major non-conformity(ies). We must report on this inspection to SNA no later than 30 working days after your report.

Use the 4-O principle in demonstrating the remediation. We previously wrote extensively about the 4-O system.

If this deadline is not feasible and you still wish to obtain the SNA quality mark, then a completely new notification will have to be carried out, in which your company will again be tested against all the requirements of the NEN 4400-1/ NEN 4400-2 standard (and, of course, the remediation of the previously identified major non-conformity). The registration inspection will oversee the current and previous financial year.

Questions?

If you have additional questions about this, please contact our specialists.