IAS Spring 2020 Newsletter - Flipbook - Page 3
COVID-19
Letter from the President (cont.)
As we move forward into the year,
I want to take the opportunity to
mention a few of the milestones
accomplished by our IAS team. In
February, IAS received recognition
from The NELAC Institute (TNI) to
provide third-party assessments and
accreditation which enables IAS to
accredit environmental laboratories
to the TNI environmental laboratory
standard. In March, the Precast/
Prestressed Concrete Institute and
the International Accreditation
Service (IAS) announced a
cooperation agreement on fabricator
accreditation. California State
University Dominguez Hills and IAS
developed a four-module certification
program on Accreditation,
Standardization and Conformity
Assessment. IAS has gained
recognition from US FDA (Food
and Drug Administration) to service
global customers in this sector. IAS
colleagues, Mohan Sabaratnam
and C.K. Cheung, led Asia Pacific
Accreditation Cooperation (APAC)
teams to evaluate International
Accreditation Japan and Sri Lanka
Accreditation Board, as part of
the peer evaluation process.
IAS hosted an APAC Training
program on ISO 50001 - Energy
management systems, with our
colleague, Ramesh Ramachandran,
as the lead trainer. The Technical
Conclave on Food Accreditations with
FDA representatives from USA in
attendance was hosted in New Delhi,
India, in February 2020, among
others.
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SPRING 2020 NEWSLETTER
I am also
thankful to Mr.
Stuart Tom,
who served on
our Board for
several years,
Stuart Tom
and whose
tenure ended last December 2019.
Stuart was always a calming voice
bringing his years of experience in
the regulatory community, and an allaround fun individual. Recently, Mr.
Osama Younan,
tendered his
resignation from
the Board as he
was selected to
head the Los
Osama Younan
Angeles City
Building Department as their General
Manager. This high-profile position
will require his undivided attention,
and we regret his departure from our
Board. IAS Board and Management
wishes both these stellar individuals
much success in their new
adventures. We have now been
joined by Mr.
Jim Brown, as
the ICC Board
Liaison. Jim
brings a wealth
of knowledge
Jim Brown
from his
regulatory perch in Gillette, Wyoming,
as well as Board-level experience
to provide guidance to all of us. We
welcomed Jim to our HQ during
our recent Board meeting here in
Southern California.
We pray and hope that this pandemic
will be behind us soon, and we can
all get back to our critical work to
serve the larger community which
has been in lock down globally. I
welcome you to share any milestones
from your organization that may
be relevant to our common good
through this newsletter. On behalf
of Board
Chairman
Rocco Davis
and the entire
IAS Board,
as well as IAS
Rocco Davis
Management
Staff, our best to all of you for the
coming months and year!
Regards,
Raj Nathan
President
COVID-19 Update from IAS
IAS recognizes that our customers are being impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in different
ways. Our assessors and staff are prepared to coordinate and communicate with customers online
or by phone. IAS will continue to adjust business methods to continue serving our customers’
needs safely and efficiently.
IAS has put in place several precautions consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention’s (CDC) recommendations for strategies that businesses might implement to protect
their employees, members and guests.
THOSE PROVISIONS INCLUDE:
• T
he health and safety of our employees,
clients, and guests is top priority for IAS.
Staff has shifted to remote work. This
will help our organization to comply with
government and public health directives,
contribute to the public health, and
reduce exposure.
• IAS continues offering its accreditation
services globally, utilizing remote
assessment technologies for upcoming
surveillance, reassessments and other
types of assessments.
•Initial assessments’ methodology will
be considered per case based on
the risk level associated with each
country. IAS may schedule under
conditions, postpone or reschedule such
assessments. Risk Assessment Level 1-3
localities are listed on the CDC’s website.
Detailed instructions were issued to IAS personnel and assessors. Still, IAS is closely monitoring developments relating to COVID-19 and will
issue additional announcements as circumstances evolve.
For the latest information regarding the coronavirus disease, as well as information on prevention and travel precautions, visit CDC’s website.
Remote Assessments
Patrick J. McCullen,
Senior Accreditation
Officer
The Do’s and Dont’s of Remote Assessments By: Patrick J. McCullen
Remote Assessment – What is it?
WHAT TO DO:
International Accreditation Forum ID12:2015
defines a remote assessment as, “the
facilitation of assessment of a Conformity
Assessment Body from a location other than
that being physically present. In other words,
an assessment that takes place without
physically visiting the site of the organization.
1. Listen
A remote assessment is not a document
review, it is not a review of records, it is
not a phone interview, it is not simply
observation of processes via webcam; a
remote assessment is a combination of all
these things. This article will provide some
guidelines on how to have a successful
remote assessment.
Listening skills are important for any
assessment; for remote assessments, they
become even more critical. When not in the
same room, misunderstandings can happen
with increased frequency. The assessor
does not have the benefit of body language
to help tell when a customer understands or
doesn’t understand a topic and vice versa.
Before you talk, listen.
2. Prepare
Preparation is a key aspect of any
assessment; with remote assessments, it can
mean the difference between success and
failure. For the assessor: not only must they
prepare for the assessment from a technical
perspective, the assessor must also consider
the means for communication. Test Webex
ahead of time, call the customer a day ahead
to test vocal quality, make sure you know
how to “screen share” prior to beginning
the assessment. For the customer, load all
relevant files onto a file sharing platform
such as Google Drive or Microsoft Onedrive
beforehand will help ensure frustration free
sharing during the assessment, especially
when demonstrating that documents and
records are “readily available.”
www.iasonline.org
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