ISO/IEC 17020: What Inspection Body Accreditation Means for You

When you select a third-party inspection provider, you are trusting an outside party to tell you whether expensive, safety-critical equipment conforms to specification. ISO/IEC 17020 is the international standard that defines how an inspection body should be organised and operated so that its judgements can be relied upon. Understanding it helps you ask the right questions — and read the answers correctly.

What ISO/IEC 17020 Actually Covers

ISO/IEC 17020:2012 sets requirements for the competence of bodies performing inspection and for the impartiality and consistency of their inspection activities. It addresses how a body manages competence of its inspectors, independence and conflicts of interest, inspection methods and records, complaints and appeals, and its own quality system. Accreditation to the standard is granted by a national accreditation body — it is a formal, audited recognition, not a self-declaration.

Type A, Type B and Type C Inspection Bodies

ISO/IEC 17020 recognises three types of inspection body, distinguished by their independence:

• Type A — a fully independent third party. The body, and the people who inspect, have no involvement in the design, manufacture, supply or operation of the items they inspect. This is the highest level of independence.
• Type B — an in-house inspection body that serves only its parent organisation.
• Type C — a body that may both inspect and be involved in design or manufacture, with safeguards to manage the conflict.

For a purchaser buying equipment from a vendor, Type A independence is usually what gives an inspection report its weight with financiers, insurers and end users.

Why Independence Matters to You

An inspection is only as credible as the independence behind it. A body with a commercial stake in the equipment — or in the vendor’s schedule — has an incentive to see fewer problems. Independence is what lets a third party raise an uncomfortable nonconformity, challenge a questionable test result, or hold a shipment, without pressure from either the maker or the buyer. That is the whole point of engaging a third party rather than relying on a vendor’s own quality department.

Accreditation vs. an ISO 9001 Quality System

It is important not to confuse two different things. ISO 9001 certifies that an organisation operates a quality management system. ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation specifically recognises a body’s competence and impartiality to perform inspection. A provider can run a sound ISO 9001 quality system and deliver genuinely independent inspection without yet holding 17020 accreditation; equally, accreditation is a meaningful extra assurance where it is held. When you evaluate a provider, look at both what they are certified or accredited to, and how they actually manage independence and inspector competence in practice.

Where PSPP Stands

In the interest of being straight with clients: PSPP’s quality management system is certified to ISO 9001:2015 by Bureau Veritas. PSPP is not an accredited ISO/IEC 17020 inspection body and does not describe itself as one; its inspection activities are carried out in line with the standard’s requirements. What PSPP holds itself to above all is the principle at the heart of 17020 Type A — genuine independence from the design, manufacture and supply of the equipment it inspects — applied on every assignment, together with a controlled service register that defines exactly what the company is approved to deliver.

What to Ask a Prospective Inspection Provider

• What are you certified or accredited to, and by whom? Ask to see the certificate and its scope.
• Are you independent of the vendors you will inspect, and how do you manage conflicts of interest?
• How do you qualify and record the competence of the inspectors assigned to my equipment?
• What is your reporting and nonconformity process, and how quickly will I see issues?
• Is your scope of work controlled, so that you only offer services you are actually approved to perform?

The right provider will answer these plainly and back the answers with documents. That transparency — more than any single logo — is the real signal of a credible third-party inspection partner.