Ensure competency and accuracy with international standards and accreditation.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has become one of the world’s largest developers of voluntary international standards from all manners of manufactured, agricultural and technological products and services since the 1940s. In the 1990s, ISO began creating standards for laboratories to standardize procedures and ensure competency and accuracy. Through the years, laboratories and reference material providers have pursued ISO accreditation for their facilities as a mark of quality and reliability. Recently, laboratory and reference material standards have been expanded or rewritten. Many established accredited laboratories are now wondering how these recent changes will affect their business. New unaccredited industries and laboratories are trying to understand the standards and the accreditation process in order to prove their own competency and value.
What is accreditation?
Accreditation is the confirmation of the competence of a testing or calibration laboratory or reference material (RM) producer by an unbiased independent third party accreditation body to an ISO international standard. According to ISO, ISO standards are internationally agreed by experts. Think of them as a formula that describes the best way of doing something.
Know more about ISO/IEC 17025
ISO/IEC 17025 is the standard for the General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. This standard is used by testing and calibration laboratories worldwide to demonstrate their technical competence. The standard was originally issued in 1999 and was followed by a second release in 2005. The 2005 version contained five elements: Scope, Normative References, Terms and Definitions, Management Requirements, and Technical Requirements. The main sections of the standard are: Management Requirements and Technical Requirements.
Get more information. Read the entire technical note, What is Accreditation? It includes the most common questions regarding ISO accreditation and how the new changes apply to laboratories and reference material suppliers.
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