Accreditations

ISO/IEC 17025

ISO 17025 is an international standard, used to confirm the competence, impartiality and consistent operation of laboratories. It applies to all organisations performing tests and/or calibrations and outlines all of the requirements that these testing organisations have to meet to prove that they operate a quality system, are technically competent, and can generate technically valid results.

For more information, see the ISO brochure [PDF] on the standard.

Mattest and ISO/IEC 17025:2005

Mattest operates independently accredited laboratoratories for construction materials testing quality services in Belfast, Dublin and Cork. The company has also had accredited temporary site-based laboratories set up on major civil engineering and road projects across Ireland. As a result of this accreditation, Mattest's customers are assured that every aspect of testing is being independently carried out in strict accordance with the relevant standards and that equipment is frequently calibrated and checked for accuracy. Most importantly, the laboratories are being continually assessed and monitored by an independent third party.

Due to its cross-border structure, Mattest holds accreditation from two national accreditation bodies:

• Materials Testing Ltd. (Mattest) has UKAS accreditation for its Belfast laboratory;
• Mattest (Ireland) Ltd. has INAB accreditation for its Dublin and Cork laboratories.

All laboratories are third party accredited, which confirms independence and compliance to ISO/IEC 17025:2005.

ISO/IEC 17025:2017

A new third edition of the standard was published in November 2017. It has been agreed that a 3-year transition period (from date of publication) will be allowed for accredited laboratories to make appropriate changes and transition to this new edition. Accreditations to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 will cease to be valid from 30 November 2020.

ISO and ILAC have issued a joint communiqué [PDF] to demonstrate that both versions of the standard remain valid during the three-year transition process.

ISO 9001

With regard to ISO 9001 management systems, the following joint ISO-ILAC-IAF communiqué [PDF] applies:

“A laboratory's fulfillment of the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 means the laboratory meets both the technical competence requirements and management system requirements that are necessary for it to consistently deliver technically valid test results and calibrations. The management system requirements in ISO/IEC 17025 are written in language relevant to laboratory operations and operate generally in accordance with the principles of ISO 9001.”