World Accreditation Day, held annually on June 9, is an initiative of the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperative (ILAC), to foster global awareness of the importance of accreditation.
The 2018 theme was How Accreditation Delivers a Safer World.
The expectation of safe workplaces, safe products, safe transport, safe food, and safety in all aspects of our lives is universally shared. But statistics show this expectation is not always matched by reality. Closing this gap is a vital consideration for government, regulators, and businesses as they strive to keep people safer at home, at work, and at play.
World Accreditation Day will be celebrated around the globe with national events, seminars, and media coverage, providing an opportunity to explore how accreditation can help deliver a safer world by supporting businesses, government, and regulators in finding standards, conformity assessment, and accreditation tools furthering this goal.
IAF and ILAC make a number of items available for World Accreditation Day, including a poster and brochure, and a joint statement issued by the chairs of IAF and ILAC.
Federal, state, and local authorities rely on ANAB accreditation to demonstrate value and assure competency for important public priorities, such as safety. Numerous conformity assessment scheme owners, notably in the food safety sector, rely on ANAB accreditation to foster consumer confidence.
For example, ANAB accreditation helps assure quality and safety of food products, systems, services, and personnel. Recently, the U.S. FDA recognized ANAB as an accreditation body under the Food Safety Modernization Act and its implementing regulations. Food safety scheme owners rely on ANAB accreditation to foster consumer confidence. Food safety schemes are requirements relating to the safe production of a wide variety of food items, and through accreditation, ANAB verifies a product certification body's competence to assess conformance to those schemes. Six states, including California, and other local governments rely upon ANAB accreditation to demonstrate the safety qualifications of food handlers. ANAB also accredits certification programs for food protection managers through an arrangement with the Conference for Food Protection.
ANAB's role in fostering a safer world is not limited to food safety. The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration, and several local jurisdictions, require crane operators to have crane operator certifications from an ANAB-accredited certification body. Through recognition from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, ANAB accredits process certification bodies in the area of electronic health record technology, supporting the safe delivery of health services. The Accredited Elevator/Escalator Certification Organization recognizes ANAB to accredit product certification bodies assessing the conformance of elevators and escalators to standards intended to assure safety and reliability.
These are just a few of the ways ANAB accreditation supports a safer world.