FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2011-07-28

SCC celebrates 30th anniversary of first laboratory accreditation

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is celebrating the anniversary of one of its longest-term professional relationships.

In the summer of 1981, SCC issued its first accreditation to the ISO/IEC standard for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories (ISO/IEC 17025) to Exova’s Mississauga Laboratory. Since then, the Mississauga laboratory has maintained the identification number, “Standards Council of Canada Accredited Lab # 1.”

“Thirty years of accreditation is a great achievement and an attestation as to the value it brings to an organization, and we at SCC congratulate Exova’s Mississauga lab on this impressive milestone,” says André Beaudet, SCC’s Manager of Laboratory Accreditation.

Maintaining an accreditation for 30 years speaks volumes about the Mississauga laboratory’s level of quality.

To achieve accreditation from SCC to ISO/IEC 17025, the laboratory must undergo regular audits to prove it has the necessary facilities and that its staff has the competence to perform activities that meet the criteria of the standard.

“The fact that the laboratory has kept its accreditation and has been SCC’s Accredited Lab # 1 since 1981, shows that this lab is committed to offering top-level service to its clients,” says Beaudet.

Lisa Kane, the Quality Manager for the Exova Mississauga laboratory agrees.

“We’re very proud,” she says. “We worked with SCC on the original (accreditation) process, and we’re so happy that the same great partnership is continuing to this day. The company has changed a lot over the past 30 years, but our level of quality is one thing that has stayed the same.”

Beaudet says the fact that Exova has continued seeking accreditation from the Standards Council of Canada for 30 years signifies the value of accreditation and is a testament to the strong professional relationship between the two organizations.

“We’re truly honoured that Exova has chosen to seek accreditation from us for so long,” he says. “We hope that this long-standing relationship continues to flourish many more decades into the future.”

For a full list of SCC-accredited laboratories, visit the SCC Web site.
 

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