compliance
|watch
Conformity assessment
for the construction industry
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Representing the window and glazing industries, I have attended a series
of workshops on the Compliance of Construction Products hosted by the
Australasian Procurement and ConstructionCouncil (APCC). This large group is
made up of a number of senior people from the procurement and building sectors,
testing and accreditation facilities, surveyors and construction materials industry
associations. Guided by Australia’s current Quality Conformance Infrastructure,
the aim is to address issues of product conformity and buildtools to support
those in search of quality and integrity in their product choices. Many readers may
wonder what conformity assessment is all about.
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he use of the term “conformity assessment” is primarily
the domain of standards and conformance infrastructure
bodies, a number of regulatory authorities and trade
officials.
“Conformity” can be described as the (ongoing) compliance of
a product or material with a customer specification or standard.
In practice, this means getting what is being asked for every
time.
“Conformity assessment” is what is done by “conformity
assessment bodies” to determine that a product does actually
conform to the performance criteria described in a standard or
customer specification. This typically involves things like testing,
measurement, examination, inspection, professional judgement
and similar.
“Conformity assessment bodies” provide verification that
products, processes and systems are doing what they are
supposed to do. They may be utilised at various points through
the supply chain.
5 Australian Window Association Winter 2013
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number of conformity assessment options are available
offering a range of risk management levels. Some of
these may be augmented by accreditation systems
which offer increased confidence through peer assessment of
the conformity assessment body’s competence and processes.
Some approaches rely on a single pre-market conformity
assessment process while others utilise several processes pre
and post market. The AWA Accreditation Program that
members sign up for involves the following:
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Type (approval) testing – Testing of a prototype (representative
of production) demonstrates that the product or material as
designed conforms to the requirements of the standard or
specification. This type test report is used as the basis for supply
to the market and forms the criteria of product certification by
the AWA certification body operating under an accredited
NATA scheme. Type testing may also be used as a post
market tool to verify that a product still meets the standard
or specification as previously demonstrated when it was first
placed on the market.