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Filling in the personnel section of a certification application

The personnel section is where the audit-time calculation begins.

Published by CAS — Conformity Assessment Services · 9 November 2026 · 2 min read
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Filling in the personnel section of a certification application

Key takeaways

  1. 1Permanent, temporary and part-time personnel within the scope, as separate figures, across every shift. TECH-3-004 §1.9.
  2. 2Office and administrative staff. They count. §2.3.1.
  3. 3Hours worked by part-time staff, and the share of time in scope for people who also work outside it. §2.3.3.

The personnel section is where the audit-time calculation begins. For ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, Global ACI TECH-3-004 (formerly IAF MD 5) starts from the effective number of personnel, and ISO/IEC 17021-1 §9.1.1 b) asks the applicant for its human resources. These are the facts to have ready, each with the clause that asks for it.

Who is counted

  • Permanent, temporary and part-time personnel within the scope, as separate figures, across every shift. TECH-3-004 §1.9.
  • Office and administrative staff. They count. §2.3.1.
  • Hours worked by part-time staff, and the share of time in scope for people who also work outside it. §2.3.3.

When they work

  • The shift pattern: start and end times, the number of people on each shift and the processes run on each. §2.3.5 and §3.7; ISO/IEC 17021-1 §9.1.3.5.
  • The seasonal peak: the number of personnel typically present, and the months. §2.3.1.

People who are not your employees

  • Contractors working within the scope. §1.9.
  • For ISO 45001, contractors and subcontractors whose work is under your control or influence, with the number of people each brings and where they work. §1.9. Those working at your premises on processes in the OH&S scope are interviewed on OH&S awareness. §11.3 b).
  • For ISO 45001, planned shutdowns or turnarounds that bring many contractor companies on site at once. §8 iv e.
  • Outsourced processes. ISO/IEC 17021-1 §9.1.1 c); TECH-3-004 §11.

What they do

  • Numbers in repetitive roles, such as cleaning, security, transport, sales or call centres, and for ISO 45001 also assembling, packaging or sorting. §2.3.4.
  • Temporary unskilled personnel, if employed in large numbers. §2.3.6.
  • Staff who work off location, such as salespersons, drivers or service personnel, and the records of their work. §8 v g.

Where they work

  • Each permanent site and the people at it. ISO/IEC 17021-1 §9.1.1 b). For several sites, Global ACI TECH-3-001 (formerly IAF MD 1) has the time for each selected site calculated with TECH-3-004 (§7.3.4).
  • Temporary sites: the activity, its size and the stage of the project, and for ISO 45001 the hazards. TECH-3-004 §9.1 and §9.2.

Provided, then checked

The information is provided by an authorized representative of the organization (ISO/IEC 17021-1 §9.1.1). Stage 1 gathers information on your sites and processes and reviews the resources allocated to stage 2 (§9.3.1.2.2 d and e). The certification body may then need to revise its stage 2 arrangements (§9.3.1.2.4).

After you submit

The certification body's justification for your effective number is available to you (TECH-3-004 §2.3.2), and the audit time with its justification is given to you as part of the contract (§4.4). Check that the figure used is the one you gave. At each surveillance audit the certification body obtains an update of your data (§5), so keep the same breakdown for the next one.

CAS — An EGAC accredited MS certification body No. 012418. Accredited scope: ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001, ISO 22000, ISO 50001 and ISO 22301. Certificates accredited for ISO 9001, 14001, 45001, 22000 and 50001 fall within EGAC's IAF MLA scope; ISO 22301 is accredited by EGAC and sits outside that scope.

Verify any certificate: cas.com.eg/certsearch

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