Things that Must Know About the ISO/IEC 17025 for Calibration Laboratories

Posted by Charles Wilson on March 23rd, 2022

A new version of the ISO/IEC 17025 standard was published by ISO and the International Electro technical Commission in 2017 to keep informed of its content and improved serve the laboratories that use it. ISO/IEC 17025 was industrialized by laboratory experts from all over the globe, along with 18 organizations, such as the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), and many associations’ representative laboratories.

What ISO/IEC 17025 standard benefits will it bring to any organization?

ISO/IEC 17025 allows laboratories to demonstrate that they work proficiently and generate valid results, thus promoting assurance in their work, both nationally and around the globe. It also benefits facilitate cooperation between laboratories and other bodies by generating wider receiving results between countries. Test reports and certificates can be accepted from one country to another without the need for further trying, which, in turn, expands international trade.

Who needs ISO/IEC 17025 standard?

ISO/IEC 17025 is useful for any organization that performs testing, sampling, calibration, and wants reliable results. This contains all types of laboratories, whether they be owned and worked by the government, industry, or any other organization. The ISO/IEC 17025 standard is also suitable for laboratories in universities, research centres, inspection bodies, product certification organizations, and other conformity assessment bodies that need to do testing, sampling, and/or calibration.

The last version of ISO 17025 was published in 2005 and, since then, market conditions and technology have changed. The new version covers technical variations, terminology, and developments in IT methods. It also takes into consideration the latest version of the ISO 9001 standard.

What are the key changes to the updated version?

ISO/IEC 17025 takes into thought the new habits of working of laboratories today. The most functional changes are as follows:

• The scope has been reviewed to cover all laboratory activities, with testing, calibration, and the sampling associated with subsequent calibration and testing.
• A new structure has been implemented to align the standard with the other current ISO/IEC conformity assessment standards such as the ISO/IEC 17000 series on conformity valuation.
• The process method now matches that of newer standards such as ISO 9001 (quality management), ISO 15189 (quality of medical laboratories), and the ISO/IEC 17000 series (standards for conformity assessment activities), highlighting the results of a process instead of the detailed description of its tasks and steps.
• The standard has a stronger focus on information technologies. In acknowledgment of the fact that hard-copy manuals, records, and reports are gradually being phased out in favour of electronic versions, it incorporates the use of computer systems, electronic records, and the production of electronic results and reports.
• A new section has been added familiarizing the concept of risk-based thought and describes the shared aims with the new version of ISO 9001:2015, Quality management systems requirements.
• The terminology has been restructured. Examples include changes to the International Vocabulary of Metrology (VIM) and arrangement with ISO/IEC terminology, which has a set of common terms and explanations for all standards devoted to conformity assessment.

Every organization needs a personnel that have taken and certified for ISO 17025 internal auditor training, it will help to implements the effective system as per latest requirements of the ISO/IEC 17025 standard in the organization. Punyam Academy is a leading training provider that provides various types of online courses on ISO internal auditor and lead auditor training.