ISO 17025 Main Sections
Section 4:
General Requirements
Section 5:
Structural Requirements
Section 6:
Resource Requirements
Section 7:
Process Requirements
Section 8:
Management Systems Requirements
Why is ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditations a good idea for your organization?
The benefits range from strategic, to external business, to internal improvement. A few high lighted here:
- Increasing customer confidence.
- Creating a proactive risk-based business and quality culture, not reactive Defined
- Assuring your laboratory’s creditability.
- Creating an environment of professionalism and pride.
The steps to becoming ISO/IEC 17025 accredited.
- Accreditation begins by having a copy of the standard and knowledge of ISO 17025:2017.
- Plan your training,
- The next step is to define and document the laboratory activities for which you seek accreditation, along with the quality objectives of the laboratory. Follow with doing a gap analysis between what your laboratories are doing and what the standard requires.
- Onto documentation – a manual, while not required, is a good place to document your laboratory policies and objectives.
- Several procedures are needed, and a number of records must be linked together, kept, and maintained.
- What about the application process? Before you can apply for accreditation, you must meet the accreditation body’s requirements, have all the mandatory procedures documented, and have the records to show that the implementation is complete.
- You must have an active internal audit program, as well as records of all management reviews and method validations.
- Record keeping (objective evidence) at the time of the audit, before recommending you for accreditation.