NSI’s ‘Wall of Shame’ receives 'warm industry welcome'

08 July 2013

In June 2013, NSI launched the ‘Wall of Shame’, a dedicated page on the NSI website to publicise the names of organisations who falsely claim to be NSI approved. The initiative has been 'warmly welcomed by the industry, prompting much positive feedback and discussion'.

NSI says it has a high success rate in addressing misuse of logo complaints. Through direct contact with those making misrepresentations and with the assistance of Trading Standards and the Advertising Standards Authority, it says most misuse of logo issues are addressed and rectified quickly and co-operatively.

The ‘Wall of Shame’ seeks to address those more persistent offenders.

The organisation says that several organisations providing services in the security and fire sectors falsely claim to be NSI approved, highlighting the commercial advantages that can be gleaned from displaying the NSI badge. ''However, this is clearly not acceptable, as it is misleading for end users and is unfair on those genuine organisations that invest the time and resource in maintaining their NSI approval by submitting themselves to regular and robust NSI audits.''

Chris Pinder, External Affairs Director for NSI explained, “We wanted to demonstrate to our approved companies, and the end-users, that we take abuse of the NSI logo extremely seriously. Those who hold NSI approval have worked hard to achieve it and are justly proud of the badge. We wanted to demonstrate to them that we will do all in our power to prevent any dilution in the value of the NSI badge.

“It will be a measure of our success if the numbers of companies listed on the Wall of Shame are kept to a minimum.”