Accreditation: Organizational

Introduction

• According to the most important forensic organizations, such as ENFSI, ASCLD, SMANZFL, the establishment of accreditation programs is a visible indication of the growing importance of accreditation in forensic sciences.

• There are many factors contributing to this expanding phenomenon.

  • One of them is the widespread trend among scientific laboratories to seek accreditation.

  • There is a significant impact from the rise in private laboratories and customer demands for greater accountability.

  • The court examines scientific evidence with ever-increasing rigor.

• Certification focuses on assessing a forensic scientist's competence.

• Accreditation is concerned with the organization's overall operation. It is the summary of a laboratory's managerial and technical requirements in order to meet a specific standard.

Accreditation

• It is the formal acknowledgement of a authority's organizational and technical competence to carry out a specific service, as specified in the scope of accreditation.

  • %%Competence is the key to transparency, confidence, and comparability.

• %%It is a formal acknowledgement that a testing laboratory is qualified to conduct particular tests or particular types of tests.

• It also signifies acceptance of a testing laboratory's impartiality and technical proficiency.

• The organization that seeks accreditation consents to set up its management system, technical infrastructure, and objectives in a way that satisfies predetermined agreed-upon standards.

• Supplementary Requirements: The application of standards to specific areas may require additional explanations via documentation.

  • These documents are an expansion of the standards' more broad criteria.

  • It offers an interpretation of the parent standard's intention when used with particular forensic sciences disciplines.

• In the United States, the ASCLD/LAB Legacy program accredits crime laboratories.

• In Australia, the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) provides a tailored forensic science accreditation program.

Two other international standards are of interest with regard to accreditation in criminalistics:

• ISO/IEC 17020: General criteria for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspections.

• ISO 9001: Quality management systems – requirements.

  • It applies not only to laboratories, but also to any orgnaizations providing services or products.

The main goals and requirements for all three international standards are the same.

• Customer Service: It provides a satisfactory service or product, which the customer recognizes as a basic condition.

• Documentation

  • Documenting the goals and procedures enables the accredited laboratory to create a repository of knowledge that already exists within their laboratory.

  • Written records help the lab operate in a traceable and transparent manner.

  • Maintaining a documented chain of custody contributes to an efficient quality management system.

Accreditation Process

• There are three main stages in the accreditation process:

  • Preparing for;

  • Obtaining; and

  • Maintaining accreditation.

• Make sure to create a written portfolio that includes the management system, technical capabilities, and objectives of the laboratory seeking accreditation.

• The necessary documentation can typically be divided into three categories.

  • The first level is the quality manual, which outlines the rules and objectives of the work carried out by the laboratory applying for accreditation.

  • The second level includes policies and procedures.

  • The third level is made up of specific documents and detailed documentation, which may include checklists for carrying out particular duties or maintaining instruments.

• A technical officer will then be delegated by the accrediting organization to perform a preassessment of the laboratory.

• The laboratory will then evaluate its procedures, records, and infrastructure in order to conform to the standard and fulfill accreditation requirements.

• A team of inspectors or assessors must conduct a formal inspection or assessment of the laboratory in order for it to receive accreditation.

• Accreditation must be maintained after receiving it.

  • Internal measures include the ongoing updating of documentation on procedures, administration, and methods.

  • External measures include proficiency test results, annual surveillance visits, and the submission of an accreditation report to the accrediting body.

Accreditation Applied to Criminalistics

• Application Document: A supplemental document is an interpretative document of 17025.

• International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) Guidelines for forensic science laboratories: It provides guidance for laboratories involved in forensic analysis and examination to comply with ISO/IEC 17025 or the NATA supplementary requirements.

• The forensic community has a difficult time adjusting to external standards due to the "degree of subjectivity" of the techniques used as well as the nature of the work done, primarily because of the distinctive and varied nature of each piece of evidence.

• In different nations, accreditation has not progressed in the same way due to the existence of private or public laboratories and the variations in the admissibility of evidence in court.

Advantages and Disadvantages

• Advantages

  • Transparency, traceability, and accountability.

  • This benefits both the client and the service provider.

  • The laboratory will have a much better understanding of the tasks performed and how they are carried out.

  • The client can see much more clearly how his product or service has been used.

• Disadvantages

  • The initial cost of putting all necessary measures into place and the ongoing cost of maintaining accreditation.

  • It is believed that the amount of additional paperwork and administrative work required is out of proportion to the benefit obtained from putting all the measures into practice.

  • A certain loss of flexibility in applying non-validated testing or implementing new techniques or methods has also been raised as a disadvantage.

  • Work quality may also suffer.

  • Accreditation can also be used to limit competition with other laboratories by establishing high standards that are not met by all (private) laboratories.