Name: Alexander Walsh
Title: Learning and Development Trainer
Q: How long have you been with NATA?
A: This is my first year with NATA
Q: What is your previous experience as it relates to accreditation and training?
A: I have wide training experience in both my personal and professional life. I was a language teacher, so I had an opportunity to develop learner-focused strategies. I also studied education and curriculum design at university, which has helped how I approach NATA course content.
Q: Tell us the benefits you believe accreditation brings to both business and the community
A: Accreditation helps to elevate businesses by recognising and promoting their ability to perform certain activities against independently assessed international standards. The community and public benefits from this process as a result the products and services they receive from facilities which are accredited – even in a behind the scenes capacity – are safe and reliable for them to use and the results can be trusted.
Q: Tell us about why you believe ‘Understanding the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025’ is a valuable course and who should attend
A: Ther course provides an excellent overview of the role standards play in our everyday lives. The course is ideal for anyone working in related industries who isn’t familiar with the standard or isn’t familiar with the language used in the standard. Overall, it’s a good introductory course to not only the standard, but what we do at NATA.
Q: What areas does the course cover and what will attendees learn?
A: This course covers all the elements of ISO/IEC 17025 and provides focus on identifying risks associated with various laboratory practices. A key participant takeaway is identifying if or where their own practices or their lab’s practices may not be meeting the requirements of the standard.
Q: What other NATA course(s) should participants consider as a natural follow up / progression?
A: Someone in a quality management role would benefit from attending our Quality Management in the Laboratory course. This course shows you how to develop a quality management system to meet the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 (or other) standard, using best practice quality management principles from ISO 9001. Another natural follow-on would be NATA’s Art of Internal Auditing course. This course is based on ISO 19011 auditing practices and develops the skills and knowledge that facility staff need to plan and conduct effective internal audits that identify conformance against the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025 (or other) standard.