ISO 17025 Laboratory Training Visit to facilities in South Africa for ERA RRC personnel
As a part of the ongoing World Bank-funded Technical Assistance, led by IT Transport Ltd. (ITT), arrangements were made for a delegation of 14 Ethiopian Roads Administration (ERA) Road Research Centre (RRC) personnel to receive short-term training in South Africa at five laboratory facilities between the 19th February to 1st March 2024.
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In support of the TA’s objective to transform the RRC into an accredited facility, the training set out to familiarize the delegation with functional ISO 17025 facilities in South Africa. The aim was to facilitate a better understanding for the delegates on the processes required to be implemented at the RRC facility, best practices with regards to laboratory layout, equipment installation, environmental considerations, and workflow processes. Other aspects of ISO 17025 requirements included administrative paperwork requirements (e.g., daily verification forms, worksheets), and staff responsibilities for a technical signatory, quality manager, nominated representative, and laboratory manager.
The delegation had an opportunity to compare the operational differences among the five facilities and to evaluate which one was considered to be the best and/or most efficient. Undertaking this assessment was intended to guide the RRC delegates in implementing the processes that align best with the operations at RRC. Based on the feedback supplied by the delegates, both on their opinion about to what extent the study visit objectives were achieved and the learning opportunities from each facility, the short-term training visit was hugely beneficial. As a result, the following key points were drawn from the feedback, pertinent to the RRC development going forward:
- All the facilities visited were highly organised, even those that were not ISO 17025 accredited
- There is a need for well-trained technical & professional staff at the RRC to get to the same level of required of skills to operate the facilities that were visited. The period to achieve this was estimated between three to five years, dependent on the support of senior management at ERA
- The quality manager & laboratory manager should be separated responsibilities
- Technical signatories should be led by laboratory technicians.
As an outcome, it was clearer to the delegates that a great amount of work is required to achieve accreditation at the RRC facility, and, as an optimistic target, the process could take three to five years.
ITT is confident that the ongoing TA support to the RRC on the journey to achieving accreditation is better focussed and enabled by key stakeholder expectations that are aligned with real experiences.
