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Celebrating 25 years of testing laboratory accreditation in the UK

2007 marked the Silver Jubilee for testing laboratory accreditation. A quarter-century ago, Harry Stanger’s laboratory in St Albans was the first ever British testing laboratory to be accredited by NATLAS, a forerunner of UKAS, given the number 0001. In 2007 the picture is very different; UKAS has around 60 technical staff assessing calibration and test labs and a further 300 independent assessors, all of whom are experts in their fields. Accreditation is open to private and publicly owned facilities in Britain and more than 1500 laboratories now hold UKAS-accredited status. Accreditation has become the preferred mechanism for ensuring accuracy, competence and accountability and UKAS-accreditation is recognised both nationally and internationally. So where did accreditation come from? What has it achieved? And what is it doing for Britain’s labs?

The road to accredited certificates, and all the benefits that it can bring in terms of proven competence, quality assurance, accountability and access to new markets has been a complicated one, but every step has helped shape the way that accreditation is used in the UK today.

In 1982, accreditation of a testing laboratory would have been the responsibility of NATLAS – the National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme run by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). But the concept of standardisation in this way had its roots in another agency; the British Calibration Service (BCS).

The BCS had been set up in the 1960s by Harold Wilson’s government in response to growing calls for standardisation of measurement. Research on microwave techniques for measurement had been going on since the war but was restricted to defence purposes. British manufacturers who wanted to prove the validity of their measurement equipment, whether at home or for the international market, had to go through the long, complicated and costly process of obtaining NPL or National Bureau of Standards (NBS) Certificates. In practice this meant it was difficult for laboratories to demonstrate that the results they obtained were accurate, consistent and reliable. There was a growing demand, led by the Scientific Instrument Manufacturers’ Association (SIMA) for national standards of measurement and calibration. Such demands would find receptive listeners in the Wilson administration, committed to forging a new Britain in the “white heat of technology.” 1966 is justly famous to any British football enthusiast, but it also proved a watershed for the quality assessment industry. The BCS was set up in April of that year to extend the benefits of legal metrology and extend measurements more generally.

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Prior to 1966 companies that needed traceability in the calibration of standards had to send them to NPL or rely on the "in house" certificate of the manufacturer of the gauges. However, there was a growing need for calibration, and NPL wanted to concentrate on the highest level of measurement. The industry started to argue for some form of accreditation; presenting a number of justifications. Not only would accreditation authenticate certificates of calibration, which would help those seeking to export, it would also help feed the development of new and improved measurement standards. It would help encourage education and training in measurement science and technologies and - crucially - relieve NPL of the burden of routine calibration of everyday equipment.

It was therefore decided to issue certificates to laboratories showing them to be authorised to calibrate gauges and measuring instruments and issue an official British Calibration Service (BCS) certificate. Initial vetting was by staff of what was then the Ministry of Technology. This could be seen as the beginning of what we now know as accredited measurements.

In 1981 NPL introduced the National Testing Laboratory Accreditation Scheme (NATLAS) which provided accreditation of testing laboratories. This scheme was the first introduction of a third-party national scheme and a move away from the numerous previous second-party schemes, with the aim of making accreditation independent and accessible to all.

All of a sudden accreditation in testing and calibration labs took off. This was partly thanks to large procurers - such as the Ministry of Defence, Lloyds, and British Standards Institute (BSI) - coming on board. However, it was also fuelled by an increase in the number of testing labs thanks to the testing scheme; testing labs were now encouraged to have accredited calibration of their measurement equipment.

By the mid-80s, NATLAS found itself completing more accreditations for both government inspired and purely commercial activities including new types of industry fields such as the construction and microbiological areas. When the BCS had been set up it had concentrated on just five fields; Mechanical, Electrical (D.C. & L.F), Electrical (RF and Microwave), Optical and Thermal. But the benefits of third-party assessment had become evident to any area of industry that required accurate and accountable measurement. The move away from second-party assessment and towards the use of assessors independent of the customer had another benefit; laboratories could work in a number of different sectors. It also meant a reduction in the multiple assessments needed from different bodies.

Then, in 1985, BCS and NATLAS were merged. For the first time testing and calibration would be the responsibility of the same organisation; a move that made sense in the light of the similar demands being made of testing and calibration labs. The new body would be called the National Measurement Accreditation Service or NAMAS and would be operated by the Department of Trade and Industry. In the same year the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies (NACCB), was established by the Department of Trade and Industry within the structure of the British Standards Institute (BSI). NACCB was established to assess and accredit the competence of third party certification bodies carrying out certification of companies primarily to BS 5750 (now ISO 9001).

By the 1990s the Conservative government was committed to a programme of privatisation, and this was what would happen to NAMAS in 1995. Given the similarity of the accreditation activities of the two organisations, NAMAS and the NACCB were merged to form the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS), a private company limited by guarantee. UKAS is a non-profit distributing company committed to operating in the public interest and is the sole accreditation body recognised by government. A year later, accreditation of engineering inspection was added from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

UKAS embodies over 40 years of experience in accreditation, but the principles of accreditation have not altered over the years; rather they have evolved. The idea that businesses should be able to demonstrate competence, reliability and accuracy can be seen back in the founding intentions of the BCS, not as a burden placed upon business, but as an opportunity to be able to compete in an ever-increasing marketplace. The belief that the public and end users should have access to the same level of impartial quality assessment as government is important as aiming to reduce the need for multiple assessments and making accreditation a single repeatable process as NATLAS and NAMAS endeavoured to do.

For the last 40 years accreditation has brought about a tremendous change for Britain’s laboratories. Testing labs now have assurance that their equipment is calibrated to internationally-recognised standards. Accreditation continues to deliver confidence in terms of reliability, traceability and accountability; vital in the modern world. This has impacted on every sphere of modern life, from farming to forensic science, from aviation to radiation.

Accreditation delivers more commercial benefits to labs; the widening of possible markets, both at home and abroad, reduced downtime or costs saved from multiple assessments. In the event of an incident, accreditation is already a sound way to demonstrate due diligence, minimising potential liability. Public Sector specifiers are increasingly looking only at accredited organisations, and for some testing work UKAS accreditation is already mandatory.

So what is the future for accreditation? UKAS’ main aim is to maintain the necessary level of accreditation to support industry requirements. But whatever the future holds for quality assessment, UKAS intends to build on 40 years of pedigree to continue to deliver confidence.

by Jon Murthy, Marketing Manager, UKAS