Practitioner D WorkshopAccreditation: Future developments and their impacts

Andrew Marlow and Martyn Cheesbrough

Introductions

• Brief introduction of:– Name– Organisation– Your role in environment management

systems– Your aspirations for the workshop

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”

UKAS - where do we fit?

CONFIDENCE TRUST ASSURANCE GOVERNMENT CONSUMERS PURCHASERS

BUSINESS, ORGANISATIONS (people, management systems, equipment,

organisations, products etc.)

CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT (testing & calibration labs,

certification & inspection bodies, or any independent evaluation)

Standards/regulatory requirements/scheme criteria

UKAS

Accreditation Government recognition

International standards

TimelineTen years agoBS 7750 and ISO 1400:1996 / EMAS I

Five years agoConcerns over integrity of EMS certification

TodayEnhancements to accreditationIntegration with regulation

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

Significant changes for 17021

None for EMS…..but:

• Focus on competence management

• Clarity on impartiality and conscience

•Publicly available information

How do we work?

• Contract Reviews• Document Review• Head-Office Assessments• Witnessed Assessments• Remote/desktop/interview/other• Four-year accreditation cycle

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

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

Breakout Groups

• Group 1 – Andrew Marlow

• Group 2 – Martyn Cheesbrough