ANSI certification

ANSI certification

The ANSI accreditation mark is a symbol of excellence that employers, business executives, hiring managers, and certification holders worldwide recognize. After its introduction in 2003, the personnel accreditation system of ANSI based on the international standard ANSI / ISO / IEC 17024:2012, Conformity Assessment – General requirements for bodies operating person certification, has helped the certification programs make the journey from good to great. More than 5.2 million individuals worldwide and counting hold an ANSI accredited organization's certification.

Value for accreditation ANSI / ISO / IEC 17024

a. The ANSI mark signals to an employer that a valid, fair, and reliable assessment has been carried out by the credential holder to verify that he/she has the necessary competences to practice.

b. ANSI accreditation offers an extra layer of legal protection against invalid claims.

c. A lot of federal departments like the United States Department of Defense,-Department of Energy, Federal and State OSHA, and FDA, depend on ANSI accreditation as it ensures the certification program's competency.

d. Responsibility and accountability implemented in the ANSI framework help certificates of compliance evaluation which may result in reduced liability insurance.

Some 45 countries have adopted the ISO 9000 series standards and, in the Indian context, its equivalent standard is the 14000 series of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). The series is known in the United States as the ANSI / ASQC Q 9000 series.

The standard finds its roots in the Directives on product liability of the European Community ( EC) July 1985 (also known as the Single Market Directives), which state that manufacturers exporting to the EC and ultimately to the European Free Trade Association will need a well-documented and enforced Quality Assurance Program for such regulated goods.

Developed by the ISO Technical Committee 176, released in 1987 and updated approximately every five years, the guidelines comprise five documents focussing on quality assurance systems.

Those five articles are:

A) ISO 9000

Standards for quality control and quality assurance-Criteria for the collection and use

B) according to ISO 9001-

Quality management-Quality control model for design, manufacture, installation, and servicing. For 20 clauses, this is the most detailed norm.

C) ISO 9002

Quality structures-Manufacturing and implementation model for quality assurance. There are 18 clauses to this degree.

D) ISO 9003

Quality management-Quality control process at final inspection and evaluation. Needs 12 clauses to be in compliance.

E) Elements of quality management and system quality-Guidelines.

Registrars around the world are required to obtain authority from the Accrediting Bodies to audit and recommend a firm's registration. Some Accreditation Authorities are:

a. Amercian National Standard Institute - now merged with USA

b. Registrar Accreditation Board (RAB)

c. Road voor de Certificate (RvC)

d. The Dutch Accreditation Council (RVA)

e. French Association Francaise Assurance Qualite (AFAQ)

f. National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB), India

g. SINCERT (Italy)

h. Swedish Board for Accreditation & conformity Assessment Sweden (SWEDAC)

i. United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) (formerly known NACCB)

j. Joint Accreditation System of Australia & New Zealand (JAS-ANZ)

k. Standards Council of Canada

l. The Japan Accreditation Board for Conformity Assessment, Japan

Process

One of the essential aspects of the ISO registration process is to check that the unit that seeks registration actually does what is stated in its quality manual.

When embarking on the road to ISO registration, the best approach to take is to follow a specific model: develop a quality assurance model from the bottom up to ensure that what is actually achieved is what is reported. Most auditors like to follow the "show me mapping" process whilst performing third party registration audits.

The process will begin with familiarization with the standard, accompanied by a review of the existing quality assurance program with a specific emphasis on whether it meets the ISO criteria. Thereafter, corrective actions should be initiated to remove the gaps and continuous monitoring should be carried out via internal quality audits to prevent the entropy of the systems from degrading to a higher level. It is best to have a consultant 's support direct the efforts of implementation.

Upon carrying out the examination, the registrars give their recommendations to the accrediting agency, which is giving the certification. Periodic "unannounced" assessments are performed after certification to ensure the device meets the required specifications.

By the way, decentralizing registration activities both from the point of view of obtaining and maintaining certification makes good sense.

The Quality Assurance program developed should include:

• Suits the need of the unit,
• Don't be restrictive to the point of impracticality
• Keep upgrading continuously.

Indeed, the implicit driving force behind the registration process should be a well-formulated, effective framework designed to produce improved performance.