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Maree Stuart
Written by Maree Stuart
Maree Stuart is a Analytical Chemist, a Quality expert and a person who thrives on solving challenging conundrums. She has qualifications and over 30 years of experience in science, quality, and management of labs. She helps lab people with gaining and maintaining accreditation, with her no nonsense, practical and innovative approach. And did you know she is also a lawyer?

Preparing for your NATA audit: tips to show how good your staff are

When you’ve done hundreds of NATA audits, you get to know what the issues are that bring laboratories stuck. One question at a NATA audit will always be, what evidence do you have that your staff are competent?

Here are some helpful tips on how to respond and show just how good your people are.

 

The scenario: You have just hired someone with a fantastic resume filled with years of experience. So, what else would you need to prove?

Show the auditor you’ve considered their background (obviously, otherwise you wouldn’t have hired them!) and that you have made sure they are familiar with your procedures and processes. Your laboratory might do things a bit differently to how they’re used to.

When they start in the lab, have them perform the test/s or tasks under the supervision of someone who is experienced; it may be that you only need to do this once to satisfy yourself they know what they’re doing. You may already be doing this informally – but an auditor will want to see evidence, so make it part of your processes and keep a record. It’s as easy as that!

By the way, this applies not only to technical procedures, but quality procedures too. And if you want your staff to review NATA endorsed reports, it also includes accreditation requirements.

So now you have a competent staff member and the records to show it. Done?

Not quite.

Evidence of ongoing competence

Periodic assessments and continuous training align with ISO 17025’s emphasis on continual improvement and staff competence. This means that you also need to have some plans to assess each staff member’s continued competence. That is, in 1, 2, 5 years, will they still be doing the test correctly and according to procedure?

It’s possible after months (or years!) of doing the same test, people develop variations that have been more convenient and these variations have become habit. Maybe these variations are better ways of doing something and you need to make a change in your procedures, or maybe you need to correct the habit. Either way, you are not going to pick it up unless you conduct some kind of a periodic assessment.

Simply put, show the NATA auditor records that demonstrate you have watched or assessed your staff’s ability to perform the test/s successfully. Depending on the work, you may also do a short quiz to test the staff’s technical knowledge. Do this with new staff, and periodically with experienced staff.

What does this all add up to? For each employee, you should have a file including their:

  • Resume
  • Copies of relevant qualifications/certificates
  • Record of induction into your organisation
  • Training records from internal courses, on-the-job training, and any supervised working period and when/how you assessed they were competent (verbal/written quiz, assessed on-the-job, reviewed the records/report they prepared)
  • Records to demonstrate continued competence (some kind of periodic assessment for each activity they perform).

Seek support

If all this sounds overwhelming, enlist some experts to help! We can work with you to develop:

  • Simple and relevant training modules and assessments
  • Proformas that would make it easier to keep records
  • Efficient schedules outlining frequencies for on-going assessments based on type of test and associated risk.

We aim to help you be self-sufficient with this process, but we can conduct assessments of your staff if you’re finding your resources stretched.

We can also attend your NATA assessments, prepare your responses… in fact, we deal with all things NATA!

Contact MAS Management Systems for on obligation-free discussion about gaining or maintaining your accreditation. MAS Management Systems offers a comprehensive range of services, including ISO/IEC 17025 consulting and accreditation, ISO 15189 accreditation, and ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation. Our expert team is dedicated to helping you achieve and uphold the highest standards of quality and competence in your operations.

Maree Stuart, Principal Consultant: maree@masmanagementsystems.com.au

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