News
TAC Inspection Council Drives Industry Advancement
The International Accreditation Service (IAS) Technical Advisory Council (TAC) for Inspection meeting in December 2006 proved extraordinarily productive. Hosted by the City of Henderson, Nevada, the meeting covered a range of topics, including changes to the IAS Accreditation Criteria for Inspection Agencies (AC98) and IBC Special Inspection Agencies (AC291), International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) training, and the ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES) Acceptance Criteria for Inspection Agencies (AC304).
Of particular note, IAS presented findings from a recent satisfaction survey of IBC Special Inspection Agencies (SIAs) in Las Vegas, Nevada. In general, SIAs operating in the city appear to be satisfied with the IAS program. Several have indicated that accreditation helped them with their business. In fact, most agencies appear increasingly more comfortable with the quality management system requirements of the IAS Accreditation Criteria AC291, and are having greater success in maintaining compliance than was initially anticipated. One area of concern is the SIAs' ability to conduct comprehensive internal audits that cover both the technical and administrative aspects of their operations. IAS continues to provide guidance and staff support to help SIAs conduct meaningful internal audits and to use the audits as effective management tools.
The TAC discussed one other area of concern regarding non-conformance reports (NCRs). During unannounced inspections, City of Las Vegas inspectors noted that some IAS-accredited SIAs were not issuing NCRs as required. To manage this process better, future IAS reassessment teams will separate on-site quality management assessments and field observation of inspectors. Field observations will be now be conducted jointly with the regulators whenever possible.
Also notable was the presentation of minutes from the recent ILAC Arrangement Committee (ARC) meeting on inspection bodies, held in November 2006. At this meeting, ILAC agreed to the technical basis of an Inspection Multi-Lateral Mutual Recognition Arrangement. The draft text is circulating, and various international groups are continuing to resolve issues and concerns. This is a significant step toward the realization of a global arrangement to recognize reports from inspection bodies that are accredited by ILAC-recognized accreditation bodies.
On a final note, Terry Egland of Testing Engineers, Inc., submitted revisions to the new Standard Practice for On-Site Inspection of Sprayed Fire Resistive Material. The TAC and IAS staff will forward comments on the draft standard to Egland.
Members of the IAS TAC-Inspection committee are:
Michael Bouse, Chair, City of Henderson, Nevada
John Chrysler, Masonry Institute of America
Terry Egland, Testing Engineers, Inc.
William Fitzjohn, Jr., Construction Inspection Training & Research
Thomas Ginsbach, Northwest Geotech, Inc.
Keyvan Irannejad, City of Milpitas, California
John Latiolait, Smith-Emery Laboratories
Earl Russell, City of Las Vegas, Nevada
William Taylor, GeoTek, Inc.
Randy Webb, Professional Service Industries, Inc.
Raj Nathan, TAC Secretary, IAS Director of Accreditations