The road to ISO/IEC 17025:2005

Perhaps it is more of a dirt pathway, slightly overgrown.

In the middle of my maternity leave, a friend with her own business asked for my assistance in obtaining compliance to 17025, with the intention of acquiring accreditation once it is economically feasible. I have said yes and we have come up with a plan of action, that includes arranging for baby sitters, something I've not done before and therefore fall back into the familiar land of grandma's...

Scarier still was the need to think about quality again. Not since a week before I gave birth have I had the need to contemplate measurements, suppliers, document control, internal audits, gap analyzes, processes, work instructions, etc... My time has been consumed with baby, diapers, bottles, pumps, laundry and just staying sane...

So why get back into Quality? I miss it, I miss the structure and organization, the problems and problem solving, the analytical approach to a task and the sense of accomplishment.

Where did I start. Reading the standard... purchased online as an e-doc, very convenient I must say...unsure where to purchase a copy? Try the standards store at www.asq.org or do a search.

Next I did a search for a guide and found from the Laboratory Accreditation Bureau "Guidance for Documenting and Implementing ISO/IEC 17025:2005 & Laboratory Guidance." Again not only convenient, but free. This document has some very good explanations to get you started on the right track for most of the clause's.

I always start looking for answers to specific questions at the cove. www.elsmar.com is a treasure trove of resources, opinions, examples and gurus ready to help. We have completed our gap analysis for Section 4.0 and are more than 2/3 compliant with just ISO 9001 accreditation at this company.

Section 5.0 will require a lot more work, especially as our calibration activity will be all non-standard and on-site at the client's facility. (read mobile measurement). I will let you know how it goes.