NATA - Role of the AAC, Chairman and Members

This document describes the role of the Accreditation Advisory Committee (AAC), its Chairman and members.

Formation and Structure

Each field of Laboratory Accreditation, the Reference Material Producers, Proficiency Testing Scheme Providers and Inspection accreditation programs have an AAC. The AAC has a unique and important role in the NATA’s activities. It provides input to operations within the relevant field and advice to the Board at both a strategic and technical level.

An AAC generally starts its life as a steering committee when a new field of accreditation is being developed and becomes an AAC at the time that accreditation is offered to the general public.

An AAC is a group of experts appointed by the Board on the basis of their knowledge and technical expertise and/or for their strategic input into the area of work covered by the particular field of accreditation. The size and membership of an AAC is dependent on the needs of the field of accreditation and the activities in that area of work at the time. Members of an AAC may be appointed for terms of 3 to 5 years with the option to extend this after the initial term. They may also be appointed for the duration of a defined project. The membership of an AAC is rotated on a regular basis to ensure a wide range of expertise and knowledge is available to NATA (and therefore our accredited laboratories) and to try and minimise the workload of members who serve in an honorary capacity. A complementary aim from this process is to maintain a mix of experienced and new Committee members on each AAC to help ensure continuity and provide mentoring.

A Chair is appointed by the Board. A Vice-Chair can also be appointed if considered necessary. The Secretary is the Field/Program Manager. The NATA Board of Directors reviews the membership of all the AACs at each March meeting.

Other technical committees may support the AAC. Technical Groups may be formed as sub groups of an AAC dependent on the diversity of disciplines covered by the field of accreditation and/or the particular activities occurring within an industry. These are generally very discipline or industry specific. Generally a member of the AAC is the Chair of such groups. The Secretary is a member of NATA staff (lead assessor) from the relevant field of accreditation. This type of technical input can also be achieved by consultation with experts and professional societies outside of the Committees on an "as needs" basis. Working groups can also be formed to address very specific technical issues that require resolution or development of specific accreditation criteria.

Meetings

The AACs generally meet every 12 to 18 months. The use of teleconferencing is being encouraged to enable the AACs to ‘meet’ more regularly to discuss issues as needed. Meeting agendas are designed to address the issues outlined below, as well as covering other relevant matters at the time. The Field/Program Manager generally provides a regular update to AAC members, e.g. six monthly.

Role of the AAC

The role of the AAC can be defined under 3 broad areas

Technical
Strategic and
Administrative.

Technical

The primary role of the AAC is to provide technical guidance for the associated field of accreditation. In particular, AACs may be asked to:

provide guidance on interpretation of the technical requirements included in the Standard used for accreditation in the associated field or program;
develop and review technical criteria specific to the work carried out by accredited organisations in the particular field or program;
review technical criteria developed by the Secretariat;
support assessors and assist in their technical training, e.g. through assessor forums;
keep NATA Secretariat staff abreast of technical developments and strategic issues in industry;
act as a liaison between NATA secretarial staff and accredited facilities in relation to technical issues;
act as a liaison between NATA and relevant industry and professional societies and Standards writing committees; and
review results of current proficiency programs and suggest potential new programs.

Strategic

Strategic activities that AACs may be involved in, include:

identifying new areas of accreditation;
identifying means of improving technical competence;
identifying areas that require further education, e.g. clients of accredited laboratories;
critical evaluation of, and improvement to the functions and services of the AAC and NATA;
recommending policy and operational changes to improve the performance of NATA and accredited laboratories;
promoting the relevance and importance of NATA’s activities to Australian industry;
raising the scientific profile of NATA and increasing its exposure to future laboratory staff, e.g. through educational institutions and professional societies; and
determining the eligibility for accreditation of specific tests, calibrations, inspections or programs.

Administrative

These activities are field dependent but may include:

reviewing assessment reports and recommending new accreditations;
reviewing reports recommending continued and extended accreditation;
involvement in recommendations regarding changes to the status of accreditation;
approving new assessors; and
reviewing complaints and disagreements of a technical nature arising from assessments.

Role of the AAC Chair

The Chair has the following responsibilities:

ensuring the AAC fulfils its role as defined above;
acting as main contact between the NATA Secretariat (generally the Field/Program Manager) and the AAC members;
attending Combined AAC Chairmen’s meeting to help identify and discuss across field issues;
chairing AAC meetings; and
providing an annual report to NATA’s Council on the activity of the AAC.

Role of the AAC Members

AAC members have the following responsibilities:

supporting the Chair with administrative tasks as required;
providing technical (strategic) advice relevant to their area of expertise;
promoting and actively participating in assessor forums;
recommending new members and assessors;
to be proactive in alerting NATA to emerging technical and policy issues of potential importance;
helping ensure the role of the AAC is fulfilled; and
acting as Chair of a Technical group and/or working group, if required.
The above information is provided as guidance only to the activities and responsibilities that are carried out by the AAC members. The list of AAC responsibilities will vary from field to field and time to time. The time required to achieve these tasks will also vary significantly depending on the ‘age’ and size of the accreditation field and the current issues in the field.
Additional details on the Medical Testing AACs structure and role are defined in the Memorandum of Understanding between NATA and the RCPA (June 2004). Similarly, there is a Memorandum of Understanding with the RANZCR relevant to the Medical Imaging field.

Confidentiality, Conflict of Interest and Liability

All information obtained in connection with the Committee’s activities must be treated as confidential by all members of the Committee according to the NATA Rules. All Committee members are made aware of this requirement and must sign a confidentiality agreement at the time of appointment to the Committee.

AACs make recommendations to NATA’s Board. As such committee members are required to declare any conflict of interest they may have in relation to the activities of the Committee.

Clause 65 of the Constitution covers the indemnity of Committee members and NATA’s professional indemnity insurance covers committee members.

Further Information

Should you require further information or clarification of any of the matters raised above, please contact NATA:
John Styzinski, Technical Manager, Ph: (03) 9329 1633; or
Jennifer Evans, General Manager, Operations, Ph: (02) 9736 8222