Forensic Science Standards: A Look at OSAC and Collaborations to Support Discipline-Specific Standards Development and Implement

Join ANAB for a webinar on Forensic Science Standards: A Look at OSAC and Collaborations to Support Discipline-Specific Standards Development and Implement.

Standards set the bar for minimum practice to ensure reliability, build trust, and simplify the playing field so that the most robust methods are consistently used. When it comes to forensic science, standards and accreditation are important ways to ensure that it is practiced in a reliable, scientific, and rigorous way. Traditional forensic laboratories are often accredited to the ISO/IEC 17025 or ISO/IEC 17020 standards, which provide general requirements for the competence of testing or calibration labs or organizations performing inspections.

Administered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic Science was established in 2014 to address the need for discipline-specific forensic science standards. OSAC fills this gap by drafting proposed standards and sending them to standards developing organizations, which further develop and publish them. These standards are designed to be more prescriptive than ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17020 and help to standardize laboratory activities further. In addition, OSAC reviews standards and posts high-quality ones to the OSAC Registry. OSAC encourages the forensic science community to implement the standards on the OSAC Registry to help advance the field.  

For the past ten years, OSAC, in collaboration with various stakeholders that contribute to the world of standards and accreditation, has been working diligently to drive forensic practice toward a higher level of excellence.

Key Takeaways

• Learn more about OSAC, its activities, and its impacts
• Discuss the current state of standardization in forensic science
• Understand the relevance of standards to accreditation
• Find out how you can participate in the standards development process

Allison Getz is a Physical Scientist with the OSAC for Forensic Science program, part of the Special Programs Office (SPO) at NIST. She has over 20 years of combined experience working in forensic science, quality management and standards development. In her current role, Allison helps to keep OSAC members and other stakeholders in the forensic science community informed and engaged in forensic science standards development and implementation and quality assurance initiatives.