New Changes to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Changes to ISO IEC 17025 2017

ISO/IEC 17025:2017 changes outline the general guidelines for the impartiality, competence, and unswerving operation of laboratories.

It encompasses the general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.

This is because instrument testing and calibration are important for guaranteeing accuracy in laboratories.

Likewise, aspects impacting inaccurate measurements should be limited so the instruments can consistently fulfill their very purpose.

As a result, ISO/IEC 17025 has become a global basis for testing and calibration laboratories that want to show their ability to provide accurate and reliable results.

What Are the Changes to ISO IEC 17025 2017?

The market conditions have changed ever since the second version of ISO/IEC 17025 was published back in 2005.
In relation, ISO international standards contain shared aspects, which have driven the need for synchronization among other international documents.

ISO/IEC 17025, which is the standard’s third edition, has gone through several changes.

Generated together by ISO and IEC in the Committee on Conformity Assessment (CASCO), the document’s process approach now matches that of newer standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 15189, and ISO/IEC 17021

For example, ISO/IEC 17025:2017 explicitly defines the similarities with ISO 9001:2015.

Moreover, the revised standard for testing and calibration laboratories has embraced a fresh system to bring it into line with the other ISO/IEC conformity assessment standards.

Subsequently, the changes to the international standard concentrate on trends with ISO documents.

To meet the existing industry needs, the ISO/IEC 17025:2017 changes include:

• A new chapter on risk-based thinking.
• A decrease of prescriptive guidelines.
• Addition of performance-based guidelines.
• Updated terminology.
• Better flexibility in the guidelines for organizational responsibilities, documented information, processes, and procedures.
• Greater focus on information technologies.
• Acknowledgment and inclusion of electronic records and computer systems.
• Production of electronic results and reports.
• The revised scope on all laboratory activities such as testing, calibration, and sampling.

QSE Academy has prepared toolkits to help your laboratory adapt to the changes of ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Testing and Calibration Laboratories Standard.