From the Chief Executive / Providing Value for Money

In recent years the standards and conformance infrastructure, of which IANZ is a key component, has grown as a critical contributor to the New Zealand economy. The implementation of documented standards is common for all developed countries, with New Zealand relying heavily on both international standards as well as those developed jointly with Australia. Compliance with these standards is required by regulators, by industry, and by consumers at large to ensure products are safe, environmental hazards are minimised and labels are correct.

In periods of economic turmoil and uncertainty, which the world is currently experiencing, the need for these assurances becomes increasingly important for Government, industry and consumers. Any slip in standards threatens the health and safety of citizens and the free movement of goods across borders. By working closely with policy agencies and regulators, IANZ hopes to minimise any negative impact during this period.

IANZ is strengthening its structure to ensure that it can meet the critical demands that will be made on its services in 2009 and the following years. Savings are being introduced that will keep operational costs to the minimum. Support activities that are not directly relevant to our core business will continue to be curtailed.

Assessment staff numbers are expected to grow slightly during this period to meet increased demand. A training schedule for expanding the scopes of assessment staff is in place to ensure we have maximum flexibility in allocating staff to cope with periods of high demand.

Senior staff will be focusing on helping regulators develop and implement requirements for conformity assessment, with strengthening New Zealand’s standards and conformance infrastructure, and with enabling greatest use of international agreements to minimise trade facilitation costs.

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Laboratory Accreditation Enhances International Credibility
In recent years, there has been a push internationally for plant diagnostic laboratories to become accredited to ISO/IEC 17025. Many veterinary laboratories are already accredited. For example, the MAFBNZ Animal Health Laboratory, in Wallaceville, was accredited in 2000 for a range of microbiological and serological tests.

Read more (pdf)

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A Legal Framework for Accreditation in Europe
Monday 23 June 2008 will be remembered as a noteworthy day in the history of accreditation in Europe. On this date, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament agreed on a Regulation that will, for the first time, provide a legal framework for the provision of accreditation services across Europe. The Regulation will apply from January 2010 and will cover the operation of accreditation in support of voluntary conformity assessment as well as conformity assessment required by legislation.

Read more (pdf)

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Accreditation Cooperation with ISO Strengthened
ISO has signed an updated Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) strengthening their cooperation on accreditation.

Read more (pdf)

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International Activities

Suspension lifted
The Philippines Accreditation Office (PAO) has been reinstated as a Signatory to both the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) Mutual Recognition Arrangements after a short term of suspension imposed in June 2008.

Survey on regulatory acceptance of accreditation
An ILAC survey of members, conducted in mid 2008, indicated a steady and significant growth in the acceptance of accredited laboratory and inspection body reports by domestic regulators. When first surveyed, in 2002, just 41% of regulators generally accepted accredited reports; today, this has risen to 68%.

To read more about how accreditation benefits government and regulators, and to download a helpful brochure, go to:
http://www.ilac.org/documents/Bro_english/How_does_using_benefit.pdf (pdf)

Appointments
Barry Ashcroft, IANZ General Manager-Accreditation Services, was re-elected Chair of the APLAC Mutual Recognition Arrangement committee in December 2009. Barry also serves on the Board of Management, Technical Committee and Proficiency Testing Committee at APLAC.

Geoff Hallam, Manager Technical Development and Regulatory Affairs, is Co-Chair of the ILAC Joint Inspection Group and serves on the Accreditation Issues (Technical) Group. Geoff is New Zealand’s representative on the ISO Working Group revising ISO/IEC 17020, which convenes in May 2009.

New BIPM publication
The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) have just published the 3rd edition of the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM3), and Supplement 1 to the GUM (Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty of Measurement). Both publications are available on its website:
http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/

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New Accreditations
Congratulations to these organisations for achieving IANZ accreditation or for extending their accreditation into another field.

Laboratories

• Food and Health Environmental, Te Awamutu - Water Testing
• Laboratory Services Rotorua*, Rotorua - Medical Testing
• Plant & Food Research, Auckland - Biological Testing
• Silver Fern Farms Limited Central Laboratory, Christchurch - Water Testing
• Spectrum Laboratories Limited, Manukau - Mechanical Testing

* Joint venture between Lakes DHB Laboratories and Diagnostic Rotorua

Radiology

• Wellington Imaging Group Limited, Wellington

Building Consent Authorities

• Ashburton District Council
• Buller District Council
• Christchurch City Council
• City Certifying Consultants Limited, Auckland
• Dunedin City Council
• Gore District Council
• Marlborough District Council
• Napier City Council
• Otorohanga District Council
• Queenstown Lakes District Council
• Timaru District Council
• Western Bay of Plenty District Council
  
  

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New Staff at IANZ

Commercial Manager
Marc Ferguson has been appointed to the new role of Commercial Manager at IANZ. Reporting to the CEO, Dr Richards, Marc will focus on providing strategic and commercial advice to the Boards and management of IANZ and Telarc SAI Limited. His areas of responsibility cover finance and accounting, IT, marketing and communications for both organisations.

Marc, who originally qualified as a cost accountant in South Africa, has accumulated 24 years experience in the financial arena. After an initial four year stint as a GST Auditor for the Inland Revenue, Marc moved into the private sector and served as financial manager for a retail merchant organisation in the building industry; and then for a manufacturer of bulk pneumatic tankers and trailers, a subsidiary of Coca Cola, South Africa. In 1999, Marc attained the position of Financial Director after switching to the furniture and joinery industry within a corporate conglomerate whose division manufactured beds. Marc immigrated to New Zealand in 2002 where he joined Fletcher Building and has spent the past 6.5 years immersed in change through the acquisition of the Laminex Group as well as divisional and product variations within the wider Fletcher Group. His last position was Financial Manager for Plycoselect, the division that manufactured interior doors for the New Zealand residential market. In most of his portfolios, Marc has been responsible for the efficient implementation and refinement of processes across the board. Marc recently graduated from the Auckland University of Technology with an MBA (Merit), majoring in Operations and Management

Paul Nichols
Paul has filled the vacant mechanical inspection accreditation assessor position at IANZ. Originally from Yorkshire, England, where he started his career as a design draughtsman in the aviation industry, Paul has an engineering diploma (Mechanical). Moving to New Zealand in 1993, Paul initially worked for a small aviation organisation which designed, tested, project managed and certified aircraft and helicopter equipment installations. Part of this work was to assist with writing operational and instructional manuals for aircraft and for companies seeking Civil Aviation certification. Paul joined Air New Zealand in 1997 working for the engineering division, writing installation and repair instructions for the company’s aircraft and interior installations, and carrying out inspections and maintenance on these aircraft.

Suzanne Cullen
Suzanne joined IANZ in January this year as an Accreditation Assessor in the Radiology programme. Suzanne has a Bachelors degree in Japanese from Waikato University and a Masters degree (First Class honours) in Applied Language Studies from Auckland University of Technology. Most recently she completed a Bachelor of Health Science (Medical Imaging) degree from Unitec where her clinical placement included time at Auckland City Hospital, Starship and Greenlane Clinical Centre. Suzanne has also spent time as a teacher both in Japan as an English teacher and in New Zealand as a secondary school teacher of Japanese and Physics. She also has a strong background in customer service from time as an International Flight attendant.

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Promote Your Accreditation Status for Free
IANZ has separate flyers for accredited laboratories and accredited inspection bodies to inform their clients about IANZ accreditation. They are A5 in size and can be easily folded once to fit a DLE envelope. Each flyer explains accreditation in simple terms, including the five essential points that emphasise the rigour of the accreditation process.

Order what ever quantity you need to keep your customers and potential customers informed by contacting info@ianz.govt.nz or phoning Accreditation Services Administration on (09) 525 6655.

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Articles of Interest

Management review checklist for ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 15189 quality management systems
Accreditation and Quality Assurance v14 n2 2009
Some of the benefits of the management review process are not fully realised because labs either don’t realize the importance of the process or they lack the experience to carry out the process in a way that produces results. This article aims to present a management review checklist to help labs carry out an effective management review.

TDLM Workshop provides examples of approaches to method verification ; presentations available online
Inside Laboratory Management Nov/Dec 2008
Reports on the background to the AOAC guide “How to meet ISO 17025 requirements for method verification” (which can be found at: http://www.aoac.org/alacc_guide_2008.pdf) and the presentations and examples AOAC provides on how to approach different types of methods (http://www.aoac.org/accreditation/am_2008_presents.htm).

Dealing with outliers
ASTM Standardization News Nov/Dec 2008
How do you determine if a value is truly an outlier and how do you decide whether or not to proceed with the data analysis?

Something to lean on
Quality World Dec 2008
Looks at the application of "lean" in hospitals and other community based health services. Explains some of the risks and complexities involved in using the tool before outlaying 5 keys to using it properly.

In the final analysis
Quality World Dec 2008
Case study of LGC Forensics, accredited to ISO 17025, which is the largest privately owned forensic science provider in the UK. The laboratory follows ILAC G19 which UKAS uses as an appropriate criteria for assessment. Looks briefly at their management system and the accreditation process.

Photocopies of these articles are available on request from Rosemary Apperley, our IANZ Librarian free of charge. Email library@ianz.govt.nz or phone 09 525 6655 to obtain a copy. Please provide a mailing address as we are prevented by copyright from emailing them to you.

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Training Courses of Interest

Laboratory Management
Laboratory Quality Management
Auckland
6-8 May

Good Laboratory Practice
Auckland
22-23 July

Inspection Body Management
Introduction to Inspection Body Accreditation
Auckland
3-4 June

Radiology Management
Radiology Quality Management
Auckland
31 March-1 April

Quality Management
ISO 9001 Management Systems
Auckland
24-25 March
27-28 July

Implementing Quality Management Systems
Auckland
9-11 March
22-24 June

Implementing and Auditing Quality Management Systems
Auckland
9-13 March
22-26 June

Auditor Training
Internal Auditing
Auckland
26-27 March
25-26 May

Wellington
2-3 April

Christchurch
29-30 April

Management Systems Auditing
Auckland
12-13 March
21-22 May

The full calendar for 2009, course details and booking forms are available from www.nzqc.co.nz, by phoning 0800 9000 99 or emailing info@nzqc.co.nz.

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To contact IANZ call 09 525 6655 or email info@ianz.govt.nz
Private Bag 28908, Remuera, Auckland 1541
626 Great South Road, Ellerslie 1051
www.ianz.govt.nz