Canadian NDT Certification Organization Earns IAS Personnel Certification Body Accreditation
The Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) National Non-Destructive Testing Certification Body (NDTCB) has met the International Accreditation Service (IAS) Accreditation Criteria for Bodies Operating Certification of Persons (AC474), demonstrating compliance with ISO/IEC Standard 17024:2012, Conformity assessment – General Requirements for Bodies Operating Certification of Persons.
“This endorsement improves the fundamental value of the national certification program for all our stakeholders and users, and provides future opportunities for international recognition of both the program and its certificate holders,” explains Pui Kei (P.K.) Yuen, Director of the National NDTCB. “Third party accreditation is an important component of our transparency and quality directives. Through the accreditation process, we show that our people and processes are operating to the global industry’s best practices. It’s a quality endorsement that has long-term collaborative value.”
“Protecting our natural resources is more important than ever,” said Raj Nathan, Senior Vice President of IAS. “NRCan is the national program in Canada that certifies people who perform nondestructive testing, which in turn, helps protect Canadians and Canada’s natural resources. IAS is proud to provide personnel certification body accreditation to NRCan NDTCB.”
According to the top executives at NRCan, key in the selection of IAS as the third party accreditation body was that IAS is an internationally-recognized accreditation body and is both a member and Multilateral-Recognition Arrangement (MLA) signatory of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and Pacific Accreditation Cooperation (PAC).
“We believe that an accreditation from a PAC-IAF MLA signatory will facilitate effective dialogue and opportunities for strategic collaboration with other organizations,” explains Yuen.
Yuen confirms the value gained during the accreditation process, “The assessment process was educational for us and highlighted where we are strong and just as importantly, gave us an opportunity to see how we might be able to incorporate global best practices as part of our continuous improvement program.”
NDTCB achieved accreditation in accordance with the requirements of ISO/IEC Standard 17024:2012, Conformity assessment – General Requirements for Bodies Operating Certification of Persons, as a Personnel Certification Body by International Accreditation Service (IAS) on March 14, 2017. Along with compliance with ISO/IEC Standard 17024:2012, Conformity assessment – General Requirements for Bodies Operating Certification of Persons per IAS AC474 criteria, the NDTCB’s quality management system is registered to ISO 9001:2015. The NDT personnel certification program is based upon the CAN/CGSB-48.9712-2014 standard, which is a national standard developed and approved through the Canadian General Standards Board standards management process.
About IAS
International Accreditation Service is a nonprofit, public benefit organization that is recognized by several international accreditation consortiums. IAS is a signatory to the PAC MLA for Persons, Product, and Management Systems (QMS and EMS) and a signatory to the IAF MLA for Product and Management Systems (QMS and EMS). IAS is periodically evaluated by international peer accreditation bodies to ensure that it meets international standards used to verify compliance of accrediting organizations worldwide. A recognized accreditation body since 1975, IAS is one of the leading accreditation bodies in the United States. For more information, visit http://www.iasonline.org/.
About NRCan/NDTCB
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) NDT Certification Body (NDTCB) develops and implements programs to certify people who inspect the metals and materials in the components and structures used in the development and use of Canada’s natural resources. The organization provides: Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) certification; Portable tube-based X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer certification; and Written Examination Administrator for Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s (CNSC) Exposure Device Operator (EDO) written examination.
