Certification of a building
product gives consumers, builders and building officials the assurance that a
qualified, independent agency has tested and evaluated a product and verified
its compliance with certain national standards. When you see a certification
mark on a product you know that it:
o Was
randomly and independently sampled.
o Passed
the testing requirements.
o Meets
specific standards.
o Was
produced under an ongoing quality assurance program to ensure continued
compliance.
Not all certification agencies
are created equal. When selecting a certification partner, building product
manufacturers should make sure they use an ISO/IEC
Guide 65 or ISO/IEC 17065 accredited certification agency. Why?
Because certification agencies must be accredited by a certification body
recognized by the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).
The International Accreditation Service Inc. (IAS) is one such organization
recognized by the ILAC to evaluate and monitor certification agencies. IAS is a
subsidiary of the International
Code Council (ICC).
ISO/IEC Guide 65 and ISO/IEC
17065 require that a certification agency maintain direct oversight of the
ongoing quality auditing and testing process. So, unlike companies that examine
a product at one point in time and just provide an evaluation report,
accredited certification agencies provide building product manufacturers with a
certification mark that signifies the product is subject to ongoing
surveillance and conformance to standards.
Here’s the process for getting
a product certified:
o The
building product manufacturer sends the certification agency the supporting
documentation (for example, product literature, design guidelines, installation
guidelines and process descriptions) and a quality assurance manual.
o The
certification agency evaluates the product and determines if additional testing
is necessary.
o The
certification agency randomly samples the product.
An ISO/IEC Guide 65 or ISO/IEC
17025 accredited laboratory, under the direction of the certification agency,
tests the product.
o The
certification agency evaluates the test results.
o The
certification agency provides the final evaluation report and the certification
mark.
o The
certification agency performs ongoing quality audits and product surveillance
at the building product manufacturer’s location.
There are a couple
misconceptions about product certification that I’d like to dispel. The first
one is that product certification is a substitute for product approval by the
authority with jurisdiction. This is never the case. Product certification and
evaluation reports are complementary to, but not a substitute for, the product
approval granted by the Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). The second
misconception is that if the product is certified, it meets all requirements of
the international building code. Building code officials, engineers and product
manufacturers need to understand that when a product is certified, it is often
done to meet a specific nationally recognized standard. For example, a wall
product that’s received ASTM E84 certification has met the international
building code for flame spread and smoke. However, this doesn’t mean it’s
certified to be used as a structural assembly.
Product certification provides
a tangible measure of assurance — to customers, code officials, inspectors and
AJH — that your product meets applicable regulatory requirements. And this
assurance will help give your product the market access you desire.
