What is UKAS?

The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body for the United Kingdom. UKAS is recognised by government, to assess against internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services.

Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators. In short, UKAS ‘checks the checkers’. UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, limited by guarantee. UKAS is independent of Government.

UKAS is appointed as the national accreditation body by Accreditation Regulations 2009 (SI No 3155/2009) and the EU Regulation (EC) 765/2008. UKAS operates under a Memorandum of Understanding with the Government, through the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Why is it important for a testing laboratory to have UKAS accreditation?

Accreditation delivers confidence in result reporting. It underpins the quality of results by ensuring their traceability, comparability, validity and commutability. UKAS accreditation provides an assurance of the competence, impartiality and integrity of conformity assessment bodies. UKAS accredited certification, testing, inspection and calibration reduces the need for suppliers to be assessed by each of their customers.

What is ISO 17025:2005?

UKAS provides ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation to organisations performing various types of testing and calibration. UKAS operates ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation in the following fields:

- Biological

- Calibration

- Chemical

- Construction and Construction Products

- Electrical

- Environmental

- Fire and Textiles

- Forensics

- Geotechnical

- Renewable Energy

 

Have the CIS laboratory’s systems improved since gaining accreditation in 2013?

At the heart of the organisation is a commitment to a continual improvement in standards. This is reflected within the company’s UKAS accredited quality systems. The accreditation process gives laboratories a platform to continually examine structure, processes and services with a view to continual improvement.

Find our more https://www.ukas.com/