NABL accreditation: Scope, Principles, Procedure, Benefits
NABL
NATIONAL ACCREDITATION BOARD FOR TESTING AND CALIBRATION LABORATORIES
NABL is an autonomous society registered under the Societies Act in 1992 providing Accreditation (of Technical competence of a testing, calibration, medical laboratory Proficiency testing provider ( Reference Material Producer (RMP NABL is an autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Science Technology, Government of India, and is registered under the Societies Act It is only one of its kinds that assess laboratories in India for quality and consistency in the results
NABL has agreements with ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Conference) and APLAC (Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) These are especially valuable for International recognition and mutual acceptance of test results In short accreditation has worldwide acceptance NABL has been established with the objective to provide Government, Industry, and society in general with a scheme for a third-party assessment of the quality and technical acceptance of testing and calibration laboratories
The government of India has authorized NABL as the sole accreditation body for testing and calibration laboratories NABL provides laboratory accreditation services to laboratories that are performing tests/Calibrations in accordance with NABL criteria based on the internationally accepted standards for laboratory accreditation ISO/IEC 17025 These services are offered in a non-discriminatory manner and are accessible to all testing and calibration laboratories in India and abroad regardless of their ownership, legal status, size, and degree of independence
SCOPE OF NABL ACCREDITATION
Grants accreditation in almost all areas of science, engineering and medical testing The international standards followed are
ISO 15189 2007 (for Medical Testing)
ISO/IEC 17025 2005 (for Testing, calibration)
ISO 17043 2010 (for Proficiency testing providers)
The laboratories should be legally identifiable and appropriately registered They can be part of a big organization or an independent entity NABL accreditation is currently given in the following fields Testing laboratories Calibration laboratories Medical laboratories
ACCREDITATION PROCESS
Time needed: 30 days
How to carry out NABL accreditation of Laboratory in India?
- Application
An applicant laboratory is expected to submit to NABL 5 copies of the application and 5 copies of the quality manual
- Forwarding Quality Manual
The quality manual will be forwarded by NABL to the Lead Assessor to judge the adequacy of the quality manual as to whether it is in compliance with ISO 15189 standards
- Pre-assessment report
Thereafter lead accessor will conduct a Pre-assessment report of the laboratory for one day Based on the Pre-assessment report the laboratory may have to take certain corrective actions, so as to be fully prepared for the final assessment
- Participate in the quality assessment program
It is essential for the applicant as well as accredited laboratories to satisfactorily participate in Proficiency testing/ Interlaboratory Comparison/External quality assessment program as Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation(APLAC)Mutual recognition Arrangement calls the laboratory
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