What is accreditation?
Accreditation is the means that an authoritative body (such as ANAB, short for ANSI–ASQ National Accreditation Board) uses to give formal recognition that an organization (such as a Registrar) is competent to carry out specific tasks. Accreditation, which is voluntary and strictly enforced by the accreditation body, provides assurance to a Registrar’s customers that the Registrar operates according to internationally accepted criteria.
Accreditation is the formal recognition of a laboratory for following the standards and guidelines set forth by the accrediting organization. Simply stated, being accredited is like being approved by the agency doing the accrediting. DDC is accredited by a number of important organizations in the fields of family relationship and forensic DNA testing. These agencies regularly examine the qualifications of our laboratory staff and inspect our testing processes and equipment. When they accredit us, they are declaring that they have validated the reliability of our lab staff, test processes, equipment, and standard operating procedures.
The United States Department of Education does not accredit any U.S. college or educational institution. The accreditation process is left in the hands of privately operated professional, national, regional, and local accrediting agencies. Randford University’s procedures and policies conform to the strict guidelines of our accrediting agency.
Laboratory ISO17025 accreditation uses criteria and procedures specifically developed to determine technical competence. Specialist technical assessors conduct a thorough evaluation of all factors in a laboratory that affect the production of test or calibration data. Laboratory accreditation bodies use this standard specifically to assess factors relevant to a laboratory’s ability to produce precise, accurate test and calibration data.
