Surveillance plan
A Surveillance Plan is developed by the Management Representative and approved by the Client Manager at the start of every three year accreditation period and then reviewed at each annual meeting.
The Surveillance Plan will record and track the surveillance activities completed by Trading Standards for all accredited individual(s) and accreditation categories under an accredited organisation.
The Management Representative is the owner of the Surveillance Plan. As such the Management Representative has to monitor and update the plan and facilitate the observations of the individuals with the Client Manager.
Developing or updating the Surveillance Plan
The Management Representative develops the surveillance, as follows:
- Each individual must be observed at least once during the three year period
- Each category of accreditation must be observed at least once during the three year period
- Priority is given to individuals that have been issued with a Corrective Action Request or that have not been observed since being accredited.
- Newly accredited individuals are to be observed within the timeline stated in the Compliance Audit Report.
Once the Surveillance Plan is developed or updated, the Management Representative is to submit the plan to the Client Manager for approval.
The Surveillance Plan will be updated continuously throughout the period of accreditation by the Management Representative when:
- An observation has been conducted.
- An individual has obtained a new accreditation category.
- An individual has been added or removed from the letter of accreditation.
- A corrective action is raised or a letter of warning issued, which require an observation or compliance audit to be completed.
- An organisation or individual has been amended.
- An individual has been suspended.
- As requested by the Trading Standards Client Manager
The Surveillance Plan will be reviewed by the Client Manager every year at the Annual Surveillance Meeting with the Management Representative.
Annual surveillance of the accredited organisation and the Management Representative
The purpose is to monitor the accreditation activities of the accredited organisation and to confirm the competency of the Management Representative to manage the accreditation function of an accredited organisation.
The Annual Surveillance should be planned and carried out every year around the anniversary date of the accreditation for the organisation.
Surveillance of an accredited individual via observation
The purpose is to monitor the competency of an accredited individual when performing their duties. The surveillance will be carried out as per the approved Surveillance Plan over the 3 year accreditation period for the accredited organisation.
It is the responsibility of the Management Representative to facilitate the observations and they should contact the Client Manager at least 1 month before the date the observation is due to propose a suitable time and location. Multiple accreditation classes can be observed during a single observation, so long as it is agreed with the Client Manager prior to the observation and the appropriate equipment/instruments are available.
If planned observations are not completed, they must be rearranged for another date in the future and the Surveillance Plan updated by the Management Representative.
Note
If a planned observation is not completed on an accredited individual or a category of accreditation during the 3 year accreditation period, the individual or organisation may have their accreditation status amended for the specific category until the Client Manager is satisfied the Accredited Person is competent.