Introduction to ISO 17020 Certificate in India

Applicability of ISO 17020 Certification to Inspection Business Types

Key Requirements of ISO 17020 Certificate: Ensuring Quality and Consistency in Inspections

Advantages in applying ISO 17020 Standard

Implementing ISO 17020: Best Practices for a Successful Certification Journey

Conclusion

The importance of various operational inspections and the competence of conducting bodies, as demonstrated by their ISO 17020 Certificate, are inevitable for enhancing the trust value in the market. It is important to bring Conformity Assessment activities to a reasonable degree of confidence of all stakeholders. Activities within the inspection houses and inspection sites are always expected to be conducted in a high degree of integrity, confidentiality and honesty. Hence ISO 17020 Accreditation is popular on a global scale. It is also known as ISO 17020 Certification in India.

ISO 17020 Certification or ISO 17020 Accreditation is a significant tool that assures that the inspection body produces confident and consistent results. As a conformity assessment standard, it is implemented by an organization to achieve quality of its activities and assure consistency.

The ISO 17020:2012 standard specifies requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection. The standard is continuously being taken for innovations and is currently under ISO/IEC WD 17020 which is a working draft stage and is expected to be published as a new version in the near future. The ISO 17020 Certificate requires policies, procedures, competence management, risk assessments, regulatory compliances, recording mechanisms, reviews, audits and actions etc. to be performed to fulfil the requirements as mentioned in the standard.

In ISO 17020 Certification or ISO 17020 Accreditation, based on the degree of independence and the type of activities, the inspection bodies are identified into three different types: Type A, Type B, and Type C.

A wide range of inspection activities is covered by ISO 17020, including:

• The inspection of plants, processes, products, materials, installations, SOPs, or services.
• The evaluation of conformity of services and products against a given set of requirements.
• The reporting of results of the inspection activities performed, to the requisite stakeholders.

ISO 17020 Certificate sets out specific requirements that inspection bodies must meet to ensure quality, reliability, and consistency in their inspections. These requirements include criteria for the competence of personnel, technical resources, inspection methods, and the management of impartiality and conflicts of interest. By adhering to these requirements, inspection organizations can ensure that their inspections are conducted with accuracy, impartiality, and integrity, including retaining an ISO 17020 accreditation.

Allowing ISO 17020 Standard can bring multiple advantages to an organization for achieving quality services while maintaining the mark of consistency.

1. Achieving Organizational Efficiency within Different Divisions

The requirements of ISO 17020 standard are consistent with various main and support activities within an inspection business. It aids in creating effective resource management, job management, staff management, knowledge management, risk management, product management etc. All these elements are instrumental in the excellent and effective delivery of inspection services, and thus it helps in overall organizational efficiency.

2. Can bring maintenance improvements

With ISO 17020 Certificate, any inspection business in India gets ultimate benefits, due to its special features in timely reviews, verifications and ISO 17020 audits. This facilitates an appropriate upkeeping and maintenance of the overall management system, including all its elements. As a result, a business can set up fantastic maintenance that makes the management system more robust and more courageous to achieve goals. ISO 17020 audit is a mandatory requirement of ISO 17020 Certificate.

3. Bring surety and reliability in Inspection Data

The correct and accurate inspection data facilitates effective confidence and in the proper operation of the workforce, tools, and equipment. With ISO 17020 Standard, lays focus on capturing inspection data in a prompt and accurate manner, and a well-supervised information transfer so that the integrity of such data is not lost or affected.

4. Achieve Your International Glory

An industry or business that chooses ISO 17020 Certificate or ISO 17020 Accreditation in India will undoubtedly get the edge in business, including enhanced opportunities in government and private sectors. Ascent WORLD’s vast experience in ISO 17020 conformity assessment lets the inspection organization take the lead and establish itself as a global force.

With this standard, an inspection business makes sure that it is worthy as per the international requirements. That’s how its services get opportunity to be rolled-out to different countries significantly without any extra promotion.

5. Systematically drawn ISO 17020 Documentation

As a requirement, the ISO 17020 standard emphasizes on development and maintenance of ISO 17020 documentation. This includes policies, procedures, SOPs, risk assessments, inspection records, inspector’s competence monitoring and calibration documentation. These documents not only serve as effective evidences of conformity, but also acts as effective device to train the new staff during recruitments and designated promotions.

6. Achieve More Advantages than the Competitors

Magically, the passage to success will open. Businesses that have applied the ISO 17020:2012 standard, and have achieved the accreditation will have the edge of effective reason why it should be preferred for business, and why it should be relied upon, against the other competitors or participants in tender.

Implementing ISO 17020 Certificate requires a systematic approach. Inspection bodies should start by conducting a gap analysis to identify areas where they need to align their processes with the standard’s requirements. This should be followed by the development and implementation of a quality management system that addresses all relevant aspects of ISO 17020. Training and awareness programs should also be conducted to ensure that personnel are familiar with the standard’s requirements and their roles in maintaining compliance. Ascent WORLD is highly experienced in appropriate interpretation of the standard and is well acquainted with the accreditation body guidelines, and can help significantly, in achieving such goal.

ISO 17020 Standard contains the specifications for management systems, the inspection body’s impartiality, technical competence, and confidentiality, in addition to other aspects of the inspection process. These are the parts that the conformity assessment has to cover. It is up to a business that allows the best practices to remove non-conformities significantly.