A2LA News December 1997, Number 65

It’s our 20th Anniversary—Look for upcoming events and articles highlighting this special year at A2LA.

A2LA, the nation’s largest multi-discipline laboratory accreditation system, has reached a significant milestone. A2LA has accredited Mattel’s Corporate Product Integrity Lab as the 1,000th accredited laboratory. The association has experienced significant growth in recent years and looks forward to continued success.
	Peter Unger, President of A2LA, presents the accreditation certificate to Mattel's CPI Manager Frank Gibbs and his staff.

In the accreditation process, A2LA assessors reviewed the laboratory’s procedures and equipment to ensure they were comprehensive and reviewed the capability of the staff in using the procedures and equipment to test toys and packaging.

Not only did Mattel’s CPI meet A2LA’s stringent accreditation standards, the company has the honor of being the 1,000th lab to be accredited by the association. To commemorate the milestone, A2LA President Peter Unger visited the CPI lab in the Design Center to personally present the accreditation certificate to Lab Manager Frank Gibbs and his staff.

“A2LA accreditation represents a major achievement” Unger said. “The fact that Mattel has invested so much time and energy into this accreditation puts it at the forefront of the toy industry with regards to quality assessment.”

Mattel’s accreditation comes on the heels of Fisher-Price’s, whose product-testing lab achieved A2LA accreditation last year.

In accepting the certificate from Peter Unger, Mr. Gibbs gave credit to the entire CPI staff. “This was really a team effort from everybody,” he said. “It’s something we can all be proud of.”

That sentiment was echoed by Jim Walter, Vice President Corporate Product Integrity, who also stressed the benefits of A2LA accreditation for the continued growth of Mattel.

Peter Unger and Frank Gibbs inspect the latest toys from Mattel.

“We are in a position where we have to know that our products are safe and reliable,” he said. “By getting this accreditation, we know that we can be self-sufficient in evaluating our products and be a quality leader in the industry.”

The NACLA Open Workshop
An Open Workshop will be held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology on April 16, 1998 to discuss the ongoing work of the Interim Board of the National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA).

The meeting will provide a forum for discussion of the progress the NACLA Interim board has made in the last year. Board members will present bylaws, a recognition document, a quality manual, and an outline of future steps toward NACLA establishment. Attendees are invited to discuss all aspects of the plans.

NACLA Mission
The National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA) is a voluntary partnership between the public and the private sectors established to provide coordination, recognition, and uniform acceptance worldwide of laboratory accreditation.

NACLA Purpose
NACLA will develop and administer recognition procedures to be accepted by all NACLA parties to provide coordination and focus for laboratory accreditation programs in the United States (phase 1), and in North America–Canada, Mexico and the United States of America (phase 2), and to serve national and international needs in laboratory accreditation.

NACLA Vision
Universal acceptance of the results of any valid test by a competent laboratory accredited by a NACLA recognized accreditor. We plan to do this by:

Open Workshop Agenda
Toward a National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation
April 16, 1998

Registration begins at 9:00 AM Coffee and Pastries in Lobby
10:00 - 10:10	Welcoming Remarks - Ray Kammer
10:10 - 10:30	Kick Off - John Gilmour
10:30 - 10:45	Executive Summary - Belinda Collins Need for NACLA
10:45 - 11:00	Break
11:00 - 11:20	Organizational Structure of NACLA - Fred Grunder
11:20 - 12:30	Review of Deliverables Recognition Document - Lynne Neumann Bylaws - Anthony Anderson Quality Manual - Dick Pettit
12:30 - 1:00	Next Steps - What is Next for NACLA? - Smith
1:00 - 2:00	Lunch
2:00 - 3:30	Questions and Answers - Moderated by Collins
3:30	Concluding Remarks - Collins

The Oregon Division of Building Codes has recognized A2LA in the plumbing product area. The Building Codes division will now recognize tests done on plumbing products by A2LA accredited labs.

The ISO CASCO Working Group 10 met in Geneva Switzerland on February 26th and 27th, 1998 to address comments received from the CASCO membership on Draft #5 of ISO Guide 25. A significant number of comments were received so the Working Group focussed on giving guidance to the Drafting Committee in coming up with the next draft.

The updated draft will be submitted to all CASCO members for a vote in April 1998. The voting period is proposed to be 5 months and comments will be accepted one more time before the final version is prepared for the accept or reject vote. The revised Guide 25 has been reclassified as a standard, designated as ISO Standard 17025, and should be available by the end of 1999.

A2LA will expect laboratories to demonstrate compliance with ISO 17025 sometime after the new standard is publicly available. The actual implementation timeframe is being debated within the accreditation community with the goal to have all accreditation bodies enforcing the new requirements at the same time.

Training Calendar
Guide 25 and Accreditation	May 11, 1998 Orlando, FL
Documenting Your Quality System	May 12, 1998 Orlando, FL
Internal Audits	May 14, 1998 Orlando, FL
Calibration Laboratory Services	May 14, 15, 1998 Orlando, FL
Measurement Uncertainty	May 18-19, 1998 Orlando, FL
Assessment of Laboratory Quality System	April 27-May 1, 1998 San Antonio, TX
Annual Meeting
A2LA Annual Meeting	May 30-June 1, 1998 Hunt Valley Marriott Hunt Valley, MD
Other Meeting of Interest
AOAC Mid-Atlantic Section, Lancaster, PA Workshop on Analyst Training and Proficiency. June 3-4, 1998
Contact Deborah A. Marcuson, Lancaster Laboratories 717-656-2300

On December 31, 1997, A2LA accredited its first Inspection Body. Structural Inspection Consultants, located in California, U.S.A., was accredited to perform structural inspections and related site tests in the fields of reinforced concrete, masonry, structural steel, fireproofing and related construction materials. A2LA is looking forward to continued growth in this new area of accreditation. Requirements are based on EN45004-1995.

Peter Unger presents Sandy Pringle of Structural Inspection Consultants, Inc. the first certificate of accreditation for an Inspection Body.

In the last newsletter we printed the NIST listing fee for FQA as $1,100. The NIST Fee has always been $925.00. The $1,100 charged by A2LA to its labs is a pass on. The fee charged by A2LA partially recovers the additional administrative expense incurred by A2LA.

	American Association for Laboratory Accreditation 5301 Buckeystown Pike, Ste 350 Frederick, MD 21704 301-644-3248, FAX 301-662-2974