A tribute to Jack Garside
Jack Garside, second Director of Telarc, died at his home in Nelson on Thursday 16 February 2006 aged 72. When Jack joined Telarc in 1979 it had six staff members, one office, received substantial Government funding and was financially precarious. When he left in December 1996 it had 73 staff, six offices, was fully self-funded and had healthy reserves.
In those seventeen years the number of accreditation clients (mostly laboratories) grew from 134 to 440. Jack and Telarc played a significant part in the dramatic changes to the nature and importance of accreditation and certification, nationally and internationally, that occurred during that period. Those years saw rapid growth in the range of services offered by Telarc (now split into the separately-operated International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) and Telarc Limited). Significant change also took place in the philosophy, practice and procedures of accreditation and in its relationship with the international accreditation community.
Our own bit of theatre
Like all great (and not so great) theatrical productions, a lot depends on what goes on behind the scenes in getting a show “on the road” and keeping it there. This is also true of presenting an accreditation authority that is amongst the best in the world, as I know IANZ is. We are constantly at the forefront of changes in the standards and conformance industry. Not only do we need to be “up with the play” on best practices, we need to be directly involved in any changes to these practices so that New Zealand interests are protected.
Standards and conformance under scrutiny
New Zealand’s standards and conformance infrastructure is fundamentally sound and generally supports the government and industry in terms of managing risk to public health, safety and the environment, facilitating economic development and trade. This is according to a consultant’s report released for the Ministry of Economic Development late last year. The Ministry commissioned the consultant to undertake a preliminary review of New Zealand’s standards and conformance infrastructure to identify any issues that may need to be addressed. It came at a time when a number of other countries had examined their standards and conformance infrastructures that led to evolving developments in their design and operation.
Building controls sector being strengthened
In a move to strengthen the decision-making process in the building controls sector, the Department of Building and Housing has proposed standards and criteria for accrediting Building Consent Authorities (BCA). The system of accreditation focuses specifically on building consenting and inspecting functions and incorporates elements of ISO/IEC 17020, which is the basis for IANZ inspection body accreditation. Feedback on the proposed standard has been gathered by the Department, and organisations wanting to operate as a BCA must
have registered with the Department by 31 May 2006.
IANZ has been appointed the independent accreditation body for this new initiative and expects to begin assessments later this year. Two new accreditation officers have been employed by IANZ to assist with this work. The initial accreditation and registration process is scheduled to be completed before 30 November 2007.
How accreditation is valued
Following is a summary of an article published in the UKAS newsletter ‘Update’ earlier this year. It shows how accreditation is valued by accredited laboratories and certification laboratories in the UK. The University of Leicester carried out the research in early 2005 to determine the benefits of accreditation to UK stakeholders (in particular the Government, certification and inspection bodies, and laboratories and their customers). The aim is to identify the business benefits of accreditation, as well as determine the preference for accreditation or direct regulation. The following are some key points identified by the research.
Formal approval needed for ILAC-MRA Mark
While IANZ has received up to fifty signed sub licence agreements from laboratories wanting to use the ILAC Laboratory Combined MRA Mark, only half have taken the final step of providing a sample of their specific combined mark. This is required before formal approval is given for the laboratory to use the mark. If your laboratory has signed a ILAC-MRA Mark sub licence agreement but has still to obtain approval, please provide us with a sample of the combined ILAC and IANZ mark you wll be using.
A number of laboratories applying for the ILAC-MRA mark have more than one IANZ accreditation. In these instances, separate combined marks have been necessary. In other instances, the client has more than one accreditation number for the same accreditation and these have been included in the one combined mark. Please contact the Accreditation Services administration office if you have any queries regarding this mark.
Reminder to laboratories on new standard
Key managerial and technical staff in laboratories accredited to NZS ISO/IEC 17025 are reminded they must be able to demonstrate compliance with the new 2005 standard by 1 June 2007. IANZ began assessing against the standard in February this year. Although the changes and up-dates are not substantial and should have only minimal impact on the operation of an accredited laboratory, they are important changes in the IANZ accreditation programmes.
If you have any queries regarding the new standard, please contact your IANZ Assessment Co-ordinator or Programme Manager.
Publications update
The most frequently used page on the IANZ website is publications, which is the most reliable source for locating current issues of all IANZ specific and supplementary criteria publications and technical and information guides. All of these are in pdf format for downloading. Printed copies are also freely available and just require a call to IANZ to get copies posted to you. When changes to existing publications or new ones are made, you will be advised directly and an announcement posted on the home page of the website. Reminders will also be included in Focal Points.
To contact IANZ call 09 525 6655 or email info@ianz.govt.nz