QUALITY SERVICE STANDARDS

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About us

QSS provides quality standard certification for various industries and is the leading quality standard certification body for the UK removals and storage industry. Established in 1999 by the British Association of Removers (BAR), we use highly qualified and experience auditors to evaluate applicants and carry out on-going annual assessments of both BAR members and non-members.

 

Though QSS is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAR, we now operate on a self-sufficient basis. Our fees are standardised in a tariff which is applied equally to BAR members and non-members alike. Generally there is a set fee for an Initial Audit and then a lower fee for the subsequent annual audits. Travel expenses are charged either on a mileage basis or via public transport at cost.

The Standards

There are the quality standards which we assess, some of which are specific to the removals industry. Some are British Standards, others are European:

• BS EN ISO 9001:2015 – Quality Management Systems
• BS EN ISO 14001:2015 – Environmental Management Systems
• BS EN ISO 27001:2017 – Information Security Systems
• BS ISO 45001:2018 – Occupational Health & Safety
• BS EN 12522:1998 Parts 1 & 2 – Domestic Removals (UKAS accredited – click here for verification status)
• BS EN 14873:2005 Parts 1 & 2 – Storage
• BS 8522:2009 – Commercial Moves
• BS 8564:2011 – International Moves
• BS EN 15696:2008 – Specification for self-storage services
• BS EN 15713:2009 – Shredding
• BS ISO 15489-1:2016 – Records management
• BS 7858:2019 – Security screening of individuals employed in a security environment

The above are all quality service standards against which companies can have their service specification and their provision of service against that specification evaluated and assessed by QSS, who will determine whether or not they are complying with the requirements of the Standard.

Training Assistance

Meeting the criteria to achieve any of our Standards is quite straightforward. However we recognise that for many people it may be a part-time role or the first time they have been tasked with such an undertaking so QSS offer inexpensive training to help companies through the process.

See Certification Process