The International Code Council’s subsidiary, International Accreditation Service (IAS) is recognizing June 9 as World Accreditation Day, and promoting the theme for the day -- Accreditation-Supporting Safe Food and Clean Drinking Water. More than 60 countries are participating in the global initiative established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), IAS is a ‘recognized accreditation body’ and a signatory member of both ILAC and IAF, which provide the infrastructure necessary for consumers in many different countries to have confidence in the safety of goods traded on the world market.
The production, packaging, storage and distribution of food and water involve intricate supply chains and processes. Tight controls are necessary to ensure food and water supplies are safe. Regulators set overall policy and technical requirements and then rely on laboratories, inspection agencies and certification bodies to check for compliance with these safeguards. IAS accreditation of these inspection agencies, testing laboratories, and product certification bodies provides a means for ensuring unsafe, unhealthy or environmentally harmful products do not enter the marketplace.
Accreditation is a formal, independent verification that a program, institution or company meets established quality standards and is competent to carry out specific conformity assessment tasks. Accreditation has been used for more than 50 years as the definitive means to evaluate organizations. It is used by all the world’s major economies and many developing economies.
IAS accredits more than 500 organizations, including testing and calibration laboratories, product certification agencies, special inspection agencies, inspection programs for metal building manufacturers, fabricator inspection programs, inspection agencies, training agencies, curriculum developers, field evaluation bodies, building departments and building department service providers. A recognized accreditation body since 1975, IAS is a nonprofit, public benefit corporation. IAS is one of the leading accreditation bodies in the United States and a signatory to several international mutual recognition arrangements (MRAs).
For more information about World Accreditation Day, visit www.ilac.org/497.html. To learn more about IAS accreditation, visit www.iasonline.org.
