2. Introductions
• Brief introduction of:
– Name
– Organisation
– Your role in environment management
systems
– Your aspirations for the workshop
3. What is Accreditation?
“ Formal recognition that an
organisation is competent to carry
out specific tasks or types of tasks”
“ Impartial, independent assessment of
competence against international
standards”
4. UKAS - where do we fit?
Government
recognition
UKAS
Accreditation
International standards
CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT
(testing & calibration labs,
certification & inspection bodies,
or any independent evaluation)
Standards/regulatory
requirements/scheme
criteria
BUSINESS, ORGANISATIONS
(people, management systems, equipment,
organisations, products etc.)
CONFIDENCE
GOVERNMENT
TRUST
CONSUMERS
ASSURANCE
PURCHASERS
5. Timeline
Ten years ago
BS 7750 and ISO 1400:1996 / EMAS I
Five years ago
Concerns over integrity of EMS certification
Today
Enhancements to accreditation
Integration with regulation
6. Where are we now?
Accredited certification is based on International
Standards:
• ISO / IEC Guide 66:1999(E)
• ISO 17021:2006 (from 16 September 2008)
• International Accreditation Forum Guidance
• European Co-operation for Accreditation
Guidance
7. Significant changes for 17021
None for EMS…..but:
• Focus on competence management
• Clarity on impartiality and conscience
•Publicly available information
8. How do we work?
•
•
•
•
•
•
Contract Reviews
Document Review
Head-Office Assessments
Witnessed Assessments
Remote/desktop/interview/other
Four-year accreditation cycle
9. Where are we now?
•
Development of UKAS C3 / EA 7/04 and
recruitment of EMS specialists
•
Four key focus areas:
1. Competence of personnel
2. Allocation of time for a satisfactory audit
3. Auditor recommendations, reports and records
4. Assessment of legal compliance
10. What are the current issues?
Taking the viewpoint of the next five years, what
would the group expect from accredited
certification in the future?
– What’s wrong now
– How could we fix it
– How would we know we’ve fixed it
•Two Groups for discussion and flipchart
capture
