Things To Know About Iso/iec 17020 Inspection Agency Assessment

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The ISO/IEC 17020:2012 Standard for Inspection Agency Assessment, and it is an important standard for any organization looking for perform inspections on behalf of organizations, customers or authorities. The ISO 17020 standard contains all activities accomplished by an inspection body with examining products, installations, plants, procedures, services and determining their conformism and the reporting of results. A certain degree of professional judgement and expertise is essential when conducting inspections and the ISO/IEC 17020:2012 standard can be used as a mandatory or screening document of accreditation for any organization looking for conduct inspections.
It applies to inspection bodies of type A, B or C, as defined in ISO/IEC 17020:2012, and it applicable to any stage of inspection. Inspections, testing, and certification can often overlay due to the fact these activities all share common essentials however inspections need a certain level of professional judgement and capability to determine acceptability against general requirements.
ISO 17020 Certification Requirements:
The ISO 17020 accreditation ...
... includes the same level of requirements as the ISO/IEC 17000 series, such as ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC 17065, and, as mentioned ISO 9001. However, it emphasizes more on the capability of accreditation bodies to accomplish impartiality, conflicts of interest, technical capability of the body, and inspection services and procedures. The accreditation trains the certification bodies in manufacture professional judgments while performing inspections, particularly when assessing conformity with general requirements. The set of requirements to be satisfied by the inspection agencies is categorized into five major groups:
General requirements:
• Fairness and independence.
• Confidentiality.
Structural requirements:
• Administrative requirements.
• Organization and management.
Resource requirements:
• Personnel.
• Facilities and equipment.
• Subcontracting.
Process requirements:
• Inspection methods and measures.
• Supervision inspection items and samples.
• Inspection records.
• Inspection reports and inspection certificates.
• Complaints and appeals.
• Complaints and appeals processes.
Management system requirements:
• Management system documentation.
• Control of documents.
• Control of records.
• Management review and internal audits.
• Corrective and preventive actions.
Benefits of ISO/IEC 17020 Accreditation:
• Combines same level of requirements for the organizational quality management system as ISO 9001 and ISO/IEC 17000 Series.
• Puts greater importance on organizational ability to manage impartiality and battles of interest, as well as the technical competence of people, inspection processes and equipment.
• Delivers assurance of technically competent service and constantly reliable results.
• Decreasing costs and lowering risks.
• Establishes products, equipment, structures and systems meeting essential specifications.
• Governments and industries around the world are gradually demanding use of accredited inspection services.
• Permits an organization to prove integrity, reliability and Good Practices to their consumers.
Who should get Certified for ISO 17020?
• Any company that wants to assure consumer / government that the facility has a robust system and can produce effective results on test services, saving and preserving Quality.
• A good ISO 17020 consulting firm can deliver a detailed explanation of the intent of the ISO 17020 standard and build a safe laboratory system.
• A complete 17020 system makes confidence in end users, government, statutory and regulatory agencies
• An ISO 17020 consulting firm delivers the techniques for executing the system. Hence any facility looking for comprehensive system must get certified.
• Consulting firm can deliver auditing services to help the facility to verify the accuracy and adequacy of execution. Companies hoping to have world class service and accuracy in their work must get ISO 17020 Accreditation.
• Internal Quality Audit is conducted by ISO 17020 consultants help find deficiencies in their execution, make improvements and take corrective actions. ISO 17020 Accreditation streamlines these procedures.
• An annual surveillance audit is conducted to confirm maintenance of an ISO 17020 Accreditation laboratory.
• Consulting firms deliver distinction in documentation between repeatability and reproducibility of test results.
• ISO 17020 Accreditation is renewable every three years.