In journalism and the sphere of rendering services there is a special quality check. What is accreditation which is intended to estimate the rendered services, not all consumers know. The procedure pursues specific goals, has a standard technique of carrying out and gives to applicants some advantages before competitors.
Accreditation – what is it?
At the high level of the competition in the conditions of market economy the consumers try to choose the products and services suitable them by certain criteria. Questions of assessment of quality of services check by means of the procedure under the name accreditation, what does it mean becomes clear after clarification of an etiology of a word. In Latin of accredo means "to trust" therefore the procedure of accreditation is official confirmation of compliance of quality of services to certain norms and standards.
In other words to define what is accreditation, it is possible as assessment by competent authorities of difficult services which the average citizen is not able to estimate without special knowledge. More often than others the following companies are checked:
- the rendering educational services;
- testing laboratories;
- medical laboratories;
- bodies of standardization and certification.
Accreditation purposes
Understanding for what accreditation is necessary, experts allocate the following purposes of this procedure:
- Identification of the perspective and successful companies in a certain industry rendering the most qualitative services.
- Providing not prejudiced and independent assessment of activity of firms.
- Decrease in share of public authorities in assessment of activity of business companies.
- Ensuring relevance and addition of results of activity of various participants of the market.
- Division of the enterprises into categories and competition stimulation that has to lead to improvement of quality of products and optimization of the prices of them.
Accreditation forms
After definition of what is the procedure of accreditation it is worth stopping separately on its forms. On an object the procedure happens:
- assessment of activity of commercial firms, enterprises and institutions;
- check of competences of the natural person;
- testing of a field of activity, whether it be education or medicine, for example.
On time of carrying out it is allocated:
- primary;
- primary specialized;
- periodic.
On geographical specifics can be:
- international;
- state;
- regional assessment of quality;
- branch.
On legislative rules happens:
- Obligatory testing which is held by public authorities during strictly ordered periods.
- The voluntary assessment procedure giving to the enterprise of advantage before competitors in the market of services.
System of accreditation
It is not dependent on whether primary accreditation or periodic is carried out, the procedure makes some kind of system of the interconnected elements:
- The creation purposes described above in separate point.
- The organizational procedures and the technical moments providing process of the analysis of quality.
- The participants consisting of the checked employees or heads of the company, certifying commission, observers and so on.
- Results of the analysis and testing which are expressed in documents and other distinctive signs.
Separately It should be noted that the accreditation commission is formed by strictly ordered criteria and consists from:
- Vice-chairman.
- Members of the commission. It can be professionals of non-profit organizations, the executive authorities functioning in one with the company applicant industry, representatives educational in the checked sphere of the organizations.
Criteria of accreditation
Main objective of this procedure is detection of compliance to standards of the checked company. Each such check consists of the minimum list of actions or criteria thanks to which it is possible to estimate quality of service or competence of the expert. Depending on the sphere and the level of check criteria can differ both in quantity, and complexity. It is possible to accredit the organization by two groups of criteria:
- The general which are established by laws and other legal documents. They are recognized to define the basic rules of holding a procedure and the requirement to quality of the rendered services.
- Private, being in bylaws and additional rules. Such criteria detail check already more fully and describe additional nuances of the procedure.
Certificate of accreditation
After successful passing of the procedure to the applicant the document of accreditation which is called the certificate is issued. It consists from:
- The full name and inspection body of the instruction on the additional documents confirming it powers.
- Names of a system of check.
- The legal name of the company which passed test.
- Date of issue and validity period.
- The list of activities of firm and the name of the provided works.
- Unique identification number of the document and special sign of successful check.
- The accreditation center surely sets the seal, and members of the commission the signature on the document.
Sign of accreditation
The firm can broadcast the received results of accreditation in normative documents by means of placement of the special sign. It is a certain symbol which the certifying company gives to the applicant in confirmation of quality of the rendered services. That is the applicant during the entire period of action of the certificate can place on own certificates, protocols and other documents the received image in confirmation of the competence.
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