IIOA partners supporting accreditation certification during COVID-19 pandemic

The delivery of robust certification needs the backing of a range of independent and inter-dependent organisations. During the COVID-19 period of so many aspects of heightened uncertainty, the value of, and reliance in, the assurance of conformity assessment such as accredited certification are both raised.

With this comes great responsibility for all aspects of the conformity assessment network.

To start, IIOA members have two clear objectives during the COVID-19 pandemic:

1. the safety of everyone involved in the system, deliverers and customers
2. maintaining the integrity of the work.

These two issues are explored in this IIOA statement. Through the use of remote techniques, IIOA members are able to deliver against these two leading objectives. More details of  these remote techniques being carried out by IIOA members are found here with links to individual IIOA members’ remote auditing.

Accreditation is a vital foundation block for robust certification and as with certification, the accreditation community has stepped up to adds it key support during these exceptional circumstances, with IAF at the forefront of this. The International Accreditation Forum has produced a range of communication to demonstrate its commitment to the maintenance of its activities and those of its accreditation body members.

• IAF statement on COVID-19, in particular highlighting pre-existing documents such as IAF ID 3:2011 Informative Document for Management of Extraordinary Events or Circumstances Affecting ABs, CABs and Certified Organizations and IAF MD 4:2018 IAF Mandatory Document for the Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Auditing/Assessment Purposes.
• IAF COVID-19 related FAQs –  whilst exceptional circumstances and the use of remote auditing and assessment have happened and been used before, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided challenges never experienced before. This in turn raises new questions and IAF have looked to address these through their FAQ system, with a specially established Task Force addressing the questions. This offers the opportunity for anyone to raise questions on existing IAF policies and procedures which may need clarification or even alteration under the current situation.
• Individual IAF member accreditation bodies are also communicating their actions and policies to continue their accreditation activities at the correct levels. The IAF AB members’ details can be found here.

Vital strength in the accredited certification system also comes from the range of ISO CASCO standards in the ‘CASCO toolkit’. These standards involve many different aspects of conformity assessment, involving accreditation, certification, the work of both accreditation and certification bodies and the competency of people delivering these different elements. CASCO has made this statement on COVID-19  and this link provides more details on CASCO activities and the conformity assessment tools.

• Covid-19