The Auto Glass Safety Council’s (formerly the AGRSS Council) third-party validation will undergo several major advancements in 2012.

The most significant change takes effect January 1, 2012, when all Auto Glass Safety Council-Registered companies will move from random audits to audits of every company during the validation period.

“The board voted to make this change because the companies that have been through audits have found it so helpful and thought all would benefit from going through the process,” says Auto Glass Safety Council president Debra Levy.

There is no change in cost for the program.

Levy says this also will benefit the consumers who utilize Auto Glass Safety Council-Registered companies for their auto glass replacement needs.

“Consumers now can choose to use an Auto Glass Safety Council-Registered Company with full confidence that the company has been or will be audited,” she adds.

In addition, the validation program will be adapted so that when deficiencies or non-compliances are found at an Auto Glass Safety Council-Registered business during an audit, validators will schedule a time to return to the business to ensure that these have been fixed. Those with uncorrected deficiencies will be removed as Auto Glass Safety Council-Registered Companies.

Lastly, the Auto Glass Safety CouncilBoard has announced that, though the latest version of the Standard (003-2011) will not be in effect until approved by ANSI, in 2012 validators will provide an informational checklist, created in accordance with the incoming Standard, to companies upon completion of a validation, so that they might be able to see how they have fared under the new Standard.