ENGINEERING
Abe Stears was born in Mossel Bay district and grew up on a plantation . After finishing his matric at the Outeniqua High School in George , he went for his military training as all young men in those days had to do . He enrolled at the then Saasveld College and finished his studies in Plantation and Catchment Management in 1971 . For 18 years he worked in the Department of Forestry in different locations in South Africa and South West Africa ( Namibia ). In 1989 he resigned and joined the SABS Timber Certification Division . After 14 years in Product Certification , he left the services of the SABS to start the company ‘ South African Technical Auditing Services ’ ( SATAS ), the first privately-owned Product Certification Body in South Africa . He is still active as MD of the company .
Understanding accreditation and product certification
By Abe Stears , Managing Director , SATAS
Accreditation and Product Certification is a topic causing confusion in the South African manufacturing industry . In the next few issues , we will try our best to address some uncertainties so that the manufacturer and the end user will understand and be able to make enlightened decisions on this important topic .
The year 2003 brought about a significant change in the
South African Product Certification industry when a second SANAS Accredited Product Certification Body ( SATAS ) entered the market giving manufacturers the opportunity to make for an informed decision in choosing their preferred service provider . As of October 2020 , the number of SANAS Accredited Product Certification Bodies operating within Southern Africa has increased to eleven , each offering a wide range of SANAS Accredited Certification to specific product standards . With this change in the Product Certification industry , a high proportion of the end-users making use of ‘ approved / certified ’ products do not fully understand and still do not understand SANAS Accredited Product Certification .
For any Product Certification Body to be accepted both Nationally and Internationally it is essential that the Certification Body is accredited to the stringent requirements defined in the ISO / IEC 17065:2012 Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products , processes and services document by an Accreditation Body duly recognised by the International Accreditation Forum ( IAF ). In the South African region , the IAF accepted Accreditation Body responsible for accrediting Certification Bodies is SANAS ( South African Nation Accreditation System ). Not many endusers know SANAS is an independent Accreditation Body reporting directly to the DTI with no affiliation to any other Body except the IAF .
For a better understanding of what end-users need to know about SANAS Accredited Product Certification a simple process flow is set out below . The below process flow defines the steps a Product Certification Body needs to achieve SANAS Accreditation and what the Accreditation means .
APPLICATION FOR SANAS ACCREDITATION
• A Certification Body makes an application to SANAS to be accredited in a specific industrial sector where product certification is sought . These sectors are defined by IEC / IAF as a NACE code which groups a specific range of product standards together . For example , IEC / IAF 17 NACE 24 relates to fabricated metal products which in turn include a whole range of associated SANS product specifications .
• It is essential that the level of technical expertise and competency available within the Certification Body for the specific NACE code is such that the stringent requirements defined in ISO / IEC 17065 can be demonstrated and maintained .
• The Certification Body is required to implement , maintain and manage a quality management system in accordance with the requirements defined in ISO / IEC 17065:2012 Conformity assessment — Requirements for bodies certifying products , processes and services and certify a manufacturer in accordance with the relevant requirements .
• Once this process is completed and the Certification Body is confident all the requirements can be clearly demonstrated the SANAS assessment is performed .
SANAS ACCREDITATION PROCESS
• The SANAS assessment team comprises ISO / IEC 17065 quality system auditors tasked to audit the Certification Body ’ s quality management system with additional technical experts being contracted to assess the auditor ’ s technical competency in the specific NACE sector accreditation is required .
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