HighCom Security, Inc., a leader in the design, development, and manufacturing of USA made hard body armor and related personal protective solutions, today announced that HighCom has become the first company in the world to achieve BA 9000 certification, a new National Institute of Justice (NIJ) body armor quality management standard. Certification was granted by Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc.
As explained in PoliceOne.Com by NIJ Program Manager Michael O’Shea, “BA 9000 is a body armor quality management systems standard that is an extension of ISO 9001, a standard for quality management from the International Organization for Standardization. If a manufacturer’s location is certified to BA 9000, it provides greater confidence that the armor is being produced consistently. Conformance with BA 9000 will be inspected by accredited certification bodies. The NIJ ballistic body armor Compliance Testing Program (CTP) worked with ANAB (ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board) to develop the applicable accreditation rule in order to accredit interested certification bodies.” Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. was the first ANAB accredited certification body for the BA 9000 standard.
“Recognition and acceptance of NIJ standards has grown worldwide, making NIJ standard certification the performance benchmark for ballistic-resistant body armor,” said Mike Bundy, President of HighCom Security. “Each piece of equipment that is manufactured and distributed by HighCom receives thorough quality inspections through our ISO 9001:2008 certified QMS (Quality Management System). BA 9000 which is an extension of ISO 9001, is specific to ballistics-resistant body armor manufacturing and testing. While this standard is voluntary, HighCom believes this additional certification is critical. It ensures that manufacturers provide procedures for communicating with CTP, including unique identification for each piece of the body armor to ensure accountability; that work areas are managed in order to reduce negative effects on body armor; and that product testing must be completed at CTP approved labs, which need to be ISO 17025 compliant. Quality is extremely important to us and that is why we are continuously improving our processes and procedures along with resources to ensure higher performing and cost effective solutions for the marketplace. This is also the main reason why we have sought to become BA 9000 certified.”
Patrick Lowry of Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc., a full-service registrar that carries multiple international accreditations including BA 9000, stated that “the purpose of a Body Armor Quality Management System (BA-QMS) is to provide additional confidence that manufacturers are managing body armor processes appropriately to better meet the needs of law enforcement officers and the requirements of the NIJ CTP. Certification to a standard such as BA 9000 is an indicator of a quality product. This is a great advantage in an industry where quality could be the difference between life and death.”
About HighCom Security, Inc.
HighCom Security, Inc. (“HighCom”) is a leading provider of high performance and affordable body armor, personal protective equipment, and armor systems and related accessories. The Company’s ballistic solutions have been deployed to hundreds of thousands of operators worldwide, including the U.S. Armed Forces, Allied forces, Federal Government Agencies, in addition to law enforcement and corrections, and other security personnel, both domestically and abroad.
