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3rd Party Audits & Proof Certification

In the oil and gas industry, certification to API Spec. Q1 remains one of most prestigious certifications in the industry. Q1 certification demonstrates the robustness of your quality management system by building upon ISO 9001 requirements to create a more risk-based approach to quality management. While ISO 9001:2015 addresses the subject of risk and other critical QMS areas, in addition to these requirements, Q1 certification motivates manufacturers to further institute controls for:

  • Risk Assessment and Management
  • Contingency Planning
  • Management of Change
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Employee Competency and Training
  • Quality Manual and Corresponding Documented Procedures

The American Petroleum Institute

The American Petroleum Institute’s certification programs provide the opportunity for companies in the oil and natural gas industry to meet global demands and to operate in an increasingly competitive business environment. Today, organizations must demonstrate that they can consistently meet customer requirements and international standards through API certification.

API Monogram Program

Organizations registering under the API Monogram Program are required to:

♦  Prove that they have “capability” to API specified requirements
♦  Develop and maintain a quality manual that describes their quality management system and how it conforms to the requirements of API Spec Q1
♦  Submit quality management system application
♦  Submit a signed API Licensing Agreement
♦  Submit an agreement for the specific API product specification(s) to which they wish to be licensed
♦  Operate under their documented quality management system for 4 months prior to receiving an API audit
♦  Perform and document an internal audit
♦  Perform and document a management review

Your Competitive Advantage

There are clear, empirical competitive advantages for manufacturing companies that implement the Q1 standard for their quality management:

  • Product Reliability – A well-documented quality management system to Q1’s requirements minimizes risk, and subsequently, nonconforming product. Your customers can consistently rely on product quality.
  • Operational – Having a well-structured and formalized approach to quality management improves productivity and reduces waste. Return-on-investment well exceeds implementation costs.
  • The lack of certification is a competitive disadvantage for manufacturing companies.

Whether you’re looking to begin the certification process or simply transitioning your current system, QSI provides a wide range of certification solutions to help you achieve certification and keep your quality management system running efficiently.

Certification Solutions

USQC offers a proven path to certification, backed by numerous years of industry experience. Whether your quality management system is in need of major or minor changes, our approach helps to foster quality commitment within your organization from the top down. QSI supports companies nationally and internationally to successfully license to API product specifications (e.g., 2C, 4F, 5CT, 5L, 6A, 6D, 6DSS,  7-1, 8C, 10A, etc.) and certify to quality specifications (e.g., API Q1, ISO TS29001, ISO 9001).

With USQC, your path to certification and compliance comes with various levels of technical assistance and support. Our consulting services include:

  • Cost efficient implementation and a dedicated consultant to track your certification timeline.
  • Customized development of manuals, procedures, work instructions, job descriptions, etc.
  • Access to your online, web-based QMS portal that houses all your documentation and integrates all your management system standards in a secure location. We provide:

♦ Software setup and deployment
♦ Employee training in software modules and procedures
♦ Data imports of all existing documentation
♦ Ongoing system support and software upgrades

  • Internal audit and management review
  • Observations during your certification audit to provide additional guidance.

Implementation and Integration

Because many oil and gas companies choose to integrate their Q1 certification with other management system standards, such as ISO 9001:2015, USQC provides services that help make this implementation and integration seamless. Companies may choose to integrate Q1 with:

  • OHS&S 18001 Occupational Health & Safety  (in transition to ISO 45001)
  • API Spec. Q2: Specification for Quality Management System Requirements for Service Supply Organizations for the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industries
  • ISO/TS 29001:2010; Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries — Sector-specific quality management systems — Requirements for product and service supply organizations
  • ISO 9001:2015; Quality Management Systems
  • ISO 14001:2015; Environmental Management System

For companies wishing to integrate additional management system standards, our mission is to develop a customized solution that meets your business needs.