What is accreditation

Accreditation is formal recognition that a product or service meets specified quality assurance requirements. For the purposes of this project, accreditation refers to recognition that a person has appropriate skills, qualifications, knowledge or experience to issue certificates of competency in relation to applicants for a licence under the Radiation Protection and Control Act 1982.

The draft accreditation policy specifies the requirements necessary to ensure that persons operating certification schemes does so in a consistent, comparable and reliable manner. By setting and maintaining standards that are reliable and valid, accreditation provides assurance that applicants for an authorisation have appropriate knowledge of the principles and practices of radiation protection.

Certification is one of several measures aimed at ensuring safe radiation practice, and in the final instance responsibility for meeting safety standards remain with those undertaking and supervising the activity.

Accreditation promotes separation between those responsible for providing and delivering qualifications, training, assessments and tests, and the regulator who ensured there is a fair and accurate measure of competence to meet mandatory regulatory requirements. Accreditation of certifiers with high levels of expertise and experience would bring a new professional status to assessment of radiation knowledge and skills that are valued and trusted by the community.