Seminar Pengurusan Kualiti & Inovasi 2011, Suria Resort, Cherating, Pahang, 5-8 October 2011, 

 
Pentafsiran MS ISO/IEC 17020

Interpretation of MS ISO/IEC 17020

Mohamad Pauzi Ismail

Kumpulan NDT

Abstrak

MS ISO/IEC 17020 ialah piawai antarabangsa yang diterima pakai oleh Standard
Malaysia yang menyatakan kriteria-kriteria perlu dipatuhi oleh badan yang memberi
khidmat pemeriksaan.

Penulis telah terlibat dengan aktiviti penilaian teknikal NDT kepada beberapa
syarikat NDT yang ingin mendapatkan persijilan MS ISO/IEC 17020. Pengalaman
menjalani aktiviti penilaian teknikal NDT diterangkan dan dibincangkan.

Abstract

MS ISO/IEC 17020 is an international standard which adopted by Malaysian

Standard states the requirement criteria for inspection bodies.

The author involved in the NDT technical assessment to several NDT companies in
Malaysia. The experience in performing NDT assessment activity is explained and
discussed.
 Seminar Pengurusan Kualiti & Inovasi 2011, Suria Resort, Cherating, Pahang, 5-8 October 2011, 
 

INTRODUCTION

MS ISO 17020 is an accreditation standards. Standard Malaysia is the accreditation

body for this standard. The MS ISO / IEC 17020 is a standard that inspection
companies can use to demonstrate that they meet include expertise and
independence.

At the moment, no NDT company in Malaysia being accredited for ISO 17020.
However there are four applications that undergone pre-assessment stage. They are
Nuclear Malaysia, NDE Consultancy Services Sdn Bhd, SGS (M) Sdn. Bhd. and Lott
Inspection Sdn. Bhd.

General Criteria for the Operation of Various Types of Bodies Performing

Inspection

In ISO 17020, the level of independence with respect to consulting/engineering is

given by the category type: A, B or C. Inspection body have to provide decision in
terms of pass/fail decision.

The standard ISO 17020 belongs to the so-called sovereign norm which is
supervised exclusively by the Accreditation Bodies. Thus, there is no application of
this standard without accreditation by one of the accreditation bodies. If anybody
would pretend to work under ISO 17020 without being accredited this would be
illegal.

The standard is based on organizational and technical requirements as follows.

1. Scope
2. Definitions
3. Administrative requirement
4. Independence, impartiality and integrity
5. Confidentiality
6. Organization/ management: responsibilities documented, job description,
supervision, training
7. Quality System: Policy and objectives, Quality manual (content), Control of
documents, Internal quality audits, Corrective actions, Review of quality system
8. Personnel
9. Facilities and equipment
10. Inspections methods and procedures
11. Handling of inspections samples and items
12. Records
13. Inspection reports and inspection certificates
14. Subcontracting
15. Complaints and appeals
16. Cooperation

Some of the requirements which may be emphasized differently with other standard.
Followings are some explanation on the main requirements of ISO17020.
 Seminar Pengurusan Kualiti & Inovasi 2011, Suria Resort, Cherating, Pahang, 5-8 October 2011, 
 
Administrative requirements:

• In addition to any liability insurance required by law or due to contractual

obligations, all types of inspection body shall have public liability insurance
cover. Inspection bodies which supply services to organizations other than
their own, shall also be covered by professional indemnity.

Organization and Management - Supervision

• The Inspection Body shall be able to demonstrate that it is organized in such

a way that the work of the staff performing inspections is supervised by
personnel who are familiar with the objectives of the inspections, the
inspection methods and procedures being used and the assessment of
inspection results. The extent, nature and level of supervision exercised shall
take into account the qualifications and experience of the inspection staff and
the inspections being undertaken.
• The supervision of inspection personnel shall also include the regular review
of inspection reports by technical personnel to ensure that work has been
carried out in accordance with relevant legislation, the Inspection Body's
procedures and contractual obligations as agreed with the client.

Quality System

• Where a company provides inspection from a number of locations, under

central technical and quality control, the following criteria apply:
– The central quality system shall embrace each individual location from
which accredited inspection services are to be operated.
– There shall be a technical manager in the parent company, supported
by local deputies where necessary, who has overall technical control
and can ensure that all aspects of EN 45004 are implemented at all
times at each location. This control shall be clearly defined in the
quality manuals and the organizational charts.

• Where a company provides inspection from a number of locations, under

central technical and quality control, the following criteria apply:
– There shall be a quality manager for the parent company, with local
deputies where necessary, responsible for day-to-day implementation
of the quality system. This quality manager shall have direct access to
top management and the responsibilities of both the quality manager
and deputies shall be clearly defined in the quality manual.
– Each location shall operate to the same technical policy and technical
procedures for a given field and type of inspection.
– Policy on calibration of equipment shall be controlled centrally even
though it may be performed locally.
– Each location shall be audited annually

Internal Audit

• The internal audit program shall include the on-site assessment of inspection
personnel carrying out inspections.
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• On-site assessment shall be carried out by personnel with the relevant
technical qualifications and experience who have been trained in internal
auditing and who are sufficiently independent to carry out the assessment
audit objectively.
• The program shall also ensure that each of the inspectors engaged in
inspection is assessed at least once within a period of 4 years for each of the
fields in which they are active.
• The audit program shall ensure that where inspections are managed from
locations other than a central location, the audit program encompasses these
different locations in a systematic way over the 4 year period.

Personnel

• Qualifications and Competence

– The Inspection Body shall ensure that only staff who have, as a
minimum, the qualifications, training, experience (including knowledge
of the inspections to be carried out)
– Supervise inspectors, resolve technical issues and perform
inspections, calibrations and testing.
– The Inspection Body shall maintain records of qualifications, training
and experience of all staff associated with the inspection process,
together with records of how and when each member of staff was
authorized. These records shall indicate the fields and levels of
inspection, calibration and testing considered to be within the
competence of the inspector.
– Including part-time employees or temporary staff

Equipment

• All equipment used for measurements and tests where the results of such
measurements and tests have a significant influence on the results of the
inspection, ie the conclusion about conformance with requirements, shall be
readily identifiable, suitable for the intended purpose and calibrated in
accordance with a defined program so as to ensure that, wherever applicable,
measurements made by the Inspection Body are traceable to national
standards of measurement.
• Where the calibrations are performed in-house, traceability to national
standards of measurement shall be assured
• The certificate or equivalent must detail an uncertainty of measurement that is
appropriate for the equipment that is to be calibrated from the reference
standard.

TYPICAL FINDINGS

Followings are typical non-conformity found during technical assessment;

1. Personnel
1.1. Lack of man power (RT operation requires at least 2 persons at a time),
 Seminar Pengurusan Kualiti & Inovasi 2011, Suria Resort, Cherating, Pahang, 5-8 October 2011, 
 
2. Facilities and equipment
2.1. Area for film loading and unloading is dusty
2.2. Cigarette butts were found in the film cabinet
2.3. No calibration sticker attached to equipment.
2.4. At least one Gamma equipment, two X-ray machines and one radiation
survey meter were not maintained and calibrated,
2.5. UT equipment is not calibrated as schedule
2.6. Calibration schedule with list of all equipment is not available
2.7. Penetrant materials not checked as schedule
2.8. Maintenance and intermediate checks were not performed by assigned
personnel per planned schedule
2.9. Damage/malfunction equipment not labelled
2.10. Survey meter is not calibrated
2.11. Equipment list and calibration schedule are not updated
2.12. Densitometer is not calibrated
2.13. Certificate of reference materials are not available
3. Inspection methods and procedures
3.1. Document not updated: RT procedure was not revised,
3.2. Use obsolete version of ASTM std,
3.3. PT procedure not followed closely,
3.4. Procedure not reviewed by NDT level 3,
3.5. IQI sensitivity 2% quality is not applicable anymore to the ASME V current
version,
3.6. The procedure needs to be revised since there are some confusion and
contradiction with ASME code or BS standard
3.7. The equipment used for conductivity measurement is made from GE
Inspection Technologies. However, the procedure specifies the conductivity
meter made from Hocking
3.8. Work instruction for radiography do not cover computerize radiography
technique
3.9. Inspector is not referring to the company procedure when doing inspection
4. Handling of inspections samples and items
4.1. Special handling for stainless steel and nickel alloy not specified in the
procedure (observation)
5. Records
5.1. RT report not complete
5.2. Report forms are not adequately filled
5.3. There is no statement on test location being provided especially for on-site
job
6. Inspection reports and inspection certificates
6.1. Test report not signed by approved signatory
6.2. Her name as Signatory is not applicable anymore since she is not signing
any NDT report
6.3. Check on UT report – No unit for length tested (mm?)
6.4. Reports were not reviewed and not identified

At the early stage, the NC may be on the equipment, availability of reference

materials, work culture and lack of knowledge. After some time less NC found and
the mistake may be on updated knowledge to the current technology changes.
 Seminar Pengurusan Kualiti & Inovasi 2011, Suria Resort, Cherating, Pahang, 5-8 October 2011, 
 
Another document related to be used during assessment for MS ISO/IEC 17020 is
MIBAS MTR2 NDT. This document only recognised NDT personnel to be qualified
by independent certifying body as per ISO 9712. This meant that in-house ASNT
certificate is not recognised.

To maintain the ISO system it is importance to work like a team, being a good
professional and disciplined work. All the jobs are important. Do what is written and
write what you do.

CONCLUSION

The purpose of assessment or auditing is to improve and to make the people works
correctly. It should not be used for finding mistakes only. It is also to maintain the
system functionality. The longer the system exist the lesser will be the mistake.

K. Isikawa:

• Quality control is applicable to any company and must be applied to all the
company

• A company that does not practice quality control will not last

REFERENCES

1. MS ISO/IEC 17020: 1998 General criteria for the operation of various types of
bodies performing inspection
2. MS ISO/IEC 17020: MIBAS MTR 2 – MIBAS Technical Requirements For
Accreditation of Non-Destructive Testing , Issue 1, 4 May 2009
3. http://www.standardsmalaysia.gov.my