Membership Requirements - FAQS

From the 1st July 2021, all IRATA members will be audited against the new standard at their next scheduled audit.

IRATA do not recognise, or have any involvement with work carried out by third-parties who provide consultancy for the purpose of gaining or maintaining IRATA Membership.

The new standards were designed with the intention to be concise and user friendly for rope access technically competent persons and were published alongside a set of guidance documents to assist users.

For further information click here.

All audits prior to the 1st July 2021 will be performed according to the audit checklist [FM-039ENG].

IRATA members and new applicants cannot be audited to the new Membership Requirements [QP-300ENG] before 1st July 2021.

Your audit will be conducted for compliance against the IRATA Membership Requirements [QP-300ENG].

The differences between the standards and the reasons for the changes can be found here.

The membership requirements do not directly reference our ICOP and the TACS. The document ‘Cross Reference Matrix to IRATA Governance Documents’ [GU-311ENG] provides cross references between the IRATA Membership Requirements and other IRATA governance documents such as the ICOP and the TACS. You can find a copy of this document here.

Unfortunately, this won’t be permissible as the evidence would have to be verified at a Full audit.

Extensions for audits beyond the end of certification expiry are only granted in extenuating circumstances.

IRATA does not consider unpreparedness in itself as an extenuating circumstance.

Membership audits that are performed on or after the 1st July 2021 will be in accordance with the requirements of the new standards. The previous audit checklist will become obsolete for members on the 30 June 2021. Therefore, you cannot choose to be audited against the old standards after this date.

They will be subject to the clause against which they were originally raised.

If the purpose of the surveillance audit was to verify the corrective action of a non-conformance(s), then you will be audited to the original standard. Otherwise, the surveillance audit will be to the new standards; and you will have 90 days to close out any new Non-Conformances.

Applicants who have submitted their Stage 1 Form 39 checklist [FM-039ENG] before 1st July 2021, will be given a grace period until the 30th September 2021 to complete their Stage 2 Probationary audit to the old standards.

All Stage 2 audits following 30th September 2021 , will be audited against the new standards. If an applicant misses the Stage 2 audit deadline of 30th September 2021, they will be required to undergo a Stage 1 audit against the new requirements prior to their Stage 2 audit against the new requirements.

In preparation, we encourage our members to familiarise themselves with the new standards and use the following published guidance documents available from the IRATA website (www.irata.org):

• IRATA Membership Requirements [QP‑300ENG] click here to view
• IRATA Membership Requirements – Guidance [GU‑301ENG] click here to view
• Differences Between Form 039 and Membership Requirements [GU‑310ENG] click here to view
• Cross Reference Matrix to IRATA Governance Documents [GU‑311ENG] click here to view
• IRATA Membership Requirement Audit Checklist [FM‑312ENG] here to view

We recommend that your company performs a gap analysis between the old and new standards. Using the IRATA Membership Requirements Audit Checklist [FM‑312ENG] should help your company to perform their gap analysis.