Testing of concrete products - Accreditation

DANAK has accredited the Concrete Centre for the carrying out of testing in the following areas: Mechanical and physical testing of concrete, concrete products cement and aggregates, and structural analysis of concrete and concrete aggregate.

The Danish Accreditation and Metrology Fund (DANAK).

DANAK was established in 1991 from legislation contained in the Law on Industry and Trade Promotion no. 394 of 13^th June 1990.

The requirements for accredited testing laboratories are set down in the Danish Industry and Trade Promotion Board’s executive order relating to the accreditation of laboratories for technical testing, etc. and for Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) inspections. The executive order refers to other documents in which accreditation criteria are described in more detail.

The standards DS/EN ISO/IEC 17025 ”General requirement for testing and calibration laboratories’ competence” and DS/EN 45002 “General criteria for the assessment of testing laboratories” describe fundamental accreditation criteria. DANAK uses interpretation documents for the individual requirements in the standards where this is deemed necessary. These will mainly be drawn up by the ”European Co-operation of Accreditation (EA)” or the  ”International Laboratory Accreditation Co-operation (ILAC)” with the objective of achieving uniform criteria for accreditation globally. DANAK also prepare technical regulations concerning specific requirements for accreditation which are not contained in the standards.

For a laboratory to be accredited requires among other things that:

• The laboratory and its personnel are free of any commercial, financial or other form of pressure which could affect their technical judgement.
• The laboratory has a fully documented quality control system.
• The laboratory has at its disposal technical equipment and premises of a sufficiently high standard to be able to carry out the testing for which the laboratory is accredited.
• Laboratory management and personnel have both the technical competence and practical experience in carrying out the services for which the laboratory is accredited.
• Fixed routines are adopted to provide traceability and uncertainty determination.
• Aaccredited testing or calibration is carried out in accordance with fully validated and documented methods.
• The laboratory registers the procedures and sequences involved in accredited testing or calibration such that they could be reconstructed.
• The laboratory is subjected to regular inspections by DANAK.
• The laboratory has insurance which covers the laboratory’s liability in the carrying out of the accredited services.
• Reports bearing the DANAK logo are used in the reporting of accredited services and show that such services have been provided in accordance with the accreditation regulations.