Accreditation of Certification of Persons

INAB offers certification bodies accreditation to the international standard EN ISO/IEC 17024:2012“Conformity Assessment - General requirements for bodies operating certification of persons”. 

 In many areas, particularly those which are safety critical, purchaser, user and public confidence in the competence of individuals is extremely important.  Personnel certification confirms the competence of named individuals to perform specified services or duties. This is achieved through the issuing of a certificate of competence.

Possible examples of personnel who could be certified include: Gas/oil fitters, Welders, Electricians/electrical inspectors, driving instructors, data protection officers.

 As with management system or product certification bodies, a personnel certification body must be able to demonstrate its competence to assess and certify its clients.

 ISO 17024 has a number of requirements for organisational structure, quality management system elements, competence of personnel, confidentiality, etc. The certification body must also describe the certification process, how candidates are evaluated and must define periods of recertification. In addition, the personnel certification body must be able to demonstrate how conflict of interest is managed and must have mechanisms in place to objectively evaluate the outcome of the certification process.

 Accredited certification bodies may also be appointed as notified bodies. Notified bodies are conformity assessment bodies which are officially designated by their national authority (Member State) to carry out the procedures for conformity assessment within the meaning of applicable Union harmonisation legislation when a third party is required. They are called ‘notified bodies’ under the applicable EU legislation.

Notified bodies take responsibilities in areas of public interest and, therefore, must remain accountable to the competent national authorities. To be eligible a body must be a legal entity established on the territory of a Member State and, thus, come under its jurisdiction.

Further information on notified bodies may be found on the European Commission website.

Notified body overview schematic

INAB Accreditation Symbol

The Irish National Accreditation Board strongly mandates accredited organisations to use the accreditation symbol on their reports or certificates.

The accreditation symbol, ownership of which is vested in INAB, is a combination of the Board’s logo in association with the registration number and the accreditation standard. Reference is also made to the organisation’s scope of accreditation.

The use of the symbol is subject to strict criteria laid down in the INAB R1 Regulations.