As part of the celebration of the World Accreditation Day, a video clip was produced:
At the end of the clip, a statement is offered:
But, is that true? Is accreditation consistent around the World?
In my experience that is not the case. For example, dealing with accreditation body auditors, I have seen tremendous variation, no different than what we see with auditors working for certification bodies. I have experienced highly competent AB auditors who were extremely professional, competent and knowledgeable; but I have also experienced mediocrity in auditing.
In the Aviation, Space and Defense sectors, the overwhelming majority of CB suspensions was in the Americas sector, when I was involved. Rare cases of European and Asia Pacific sector CB's ever getting some form of penalties imposed by the respective AB's. Even in the Americas sector, INMETRO had a very different level of participation compared to ANAB.
And, in the Automotive world, a question that I have already asked several times: Why did the IATF bypass the AB's and perform oversight of CB's directly?
AB's through their peer reviews don't scrutinize each other as deeply and thoroughly as they should, in my experience. In my opinion, AB's should be subjected to oversight by organizations that represent industry and society to close the loop. In a few cases of Industry Controlled Certification Schemes, such as the IAQG AS91X0 and the TIA TL-9000 schemes, AB's undergo oversight audits, but the scope and extent of that oversight is limited.
But, is that true? Is accreditation consistent around the World?
In my experience that is not the case. For example, dealing with accreditation body auditors, I have seen tremendous variation, no different than what we see with auditors working for certification bodies. I have experienced highly competent AB auditors who were extremely professional, competent and knowledgeable; but I have also experienced mediocrity in auditing.
In the Aviation, Space and Defense sectors, the overwhelming majority of CB suspensions was in the Americas sector, when I was involved. Rare cases of European and Asia Pacific sector CB's ever getting some form of penalties imposed by the respective AB's. Even in the Americas sector, INMETRO had a very different level of participation compared to ANAB.
And, in the Automotive world, a question that I have already asked several times: Why did the IATF bypass the AB's and perform oversight of CB's directly?
AB's through their peer reviews don't scrutinize each other as deeply and thoroughly as they should, in my experience. In my opinion, AB's should be subjected to oversight by organizations that represent industry and society to close the loop. In a few cases of Industry Controlled Certification Schemes, such as the IAQG AS91X0 and the TIA TL-9000 schemes, AB's undergo oversight audits, but the scope and extent of that oversight is limited.