Accreditation and Personnel Certification

In today's global trade environment, ensuring the reliability of products, people and services to meet certain standards and being able to compete is quite challenging. For this reason, both worldwide and in our country, there are long-established efforts to determine the reliability of products, people and services. In the global environment, the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), a federation that brings together International Accreditation bodies, defines cooperation and mutual recognition principles under this institution. In our country, accreditation activities are carried out by TÜRKAK, an official institution. TÜRKAK is also among the members of IAF. In general terms, to answer the question of what accreditation is: Accreditation is a quality infrastructure established to support the reliability and validity of the work carried out by conformity assessment bodies and the conformity attestation documents issued as a result of this work (test and inspection reports, calibration certificates, management system certificates, product certificates, personnel certificates, etc.). The accreditation of conformity assessment bodies is carried out on the basis of international standards that determine competency criteria for the relevant conformity assessment bodies, requirements specific to the relevant sector, and requirements established in guideline documents by regional or international accreditation bodies, which are accepted worldwide. A product or service that has a conformity document issued by an accredited conformity assessment body instills confidence that this product or service meets applicable requirements. Through this system, accreditation contributes to the removal of technical barriers in trade. Regarding the global mutual recognition and acceptance of accredited services, international and regional organizations such as IAF (International Accreditation Forum), ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation), and EA (European Accreditation) created by accreditation bodies, together with mutual recognition agreements on equivalence of standards, establish this.

If we describe the activities carried out by TÜRKAK in our country: to support the safety and validity of the work carried out by organizations that have been inspected and approved by the institution, and the conformity documents issued as a result of this work.

Accreditation subjects cover many areas such as personnel certification, testing, inspection, management systems, and product certification. Accreditation is the independent evaluation of conformity assessment bodies according to established standards for conducting certain activities in order to guarantee their integrity, impartiality and competence. Organizations must first be accredited by TÜRKAK before being able to issue competency certificates or certificates. In this process, necessary infrastructure is determined and procedures in accordance with standards are defined before applying to TÜRKAK. Following this, first the accreditation decision is made by the institution following documentation review and subsequently the actual inspection to be carried out. TÜRKAK publishes each accredited institution on its own website on an up-to-date basis. From the institution search engine at https://secure.turkak.org.tr/kapsam/search, the accreditation areas and scopes of institutions are provided in detail, and any candidates participating in certification and examination processes can view and follow the institutions' accredited programs on an up-to-date basis. Our chemical industry continues its activities in an increasingly dense regulatory environment in order to eliminate the negative effects of industrial development on human and environmental health and to achieve sustainable development. Compliance with relevant regulations is both a requirement of competitiveness and one of the indispensables of production and trade in line with the law. Compliance with local and global regulations is becoming an extra burden for companies day by day, but on the other hand, like all other difficulties, it is an element that strengthens the company as long as you can cope with it. This is where the importance of qualified workforce comes into play.

Sustaining your presence in the international market depends on compliance with regulations, and achieving compliance with regulations depends on qualified workforce with knowledge in this field.

With each passing day, as both regulations and continuously evolving and changing standards have transcended national boundaries in workforce competition, creating qualified workforce requires evidence of that person's competence—an expertise certificate. Management system certificates such as quality, environment, and occupational safety and personnel competency certificates regarding regulatory compliance are important not only for institutions but also for individuals themselves. These documents open the doors of the global workforce market to individuals, while promising competitiveness and sustainable quality to companies. In this sense, parallel with industrial development in our country, in the regulatory environment, as a result of both the EU membership process and steps taken at the United Nations, the Chemical Industry faces continuously changing and developing regulations. These developments create the need to train personnel in our industry who will be knowledgeable about these issues. In our country, for the first time, the regulation no. 27092 dated 26 December 2008, published by the T.C. Ministry of Environment and Urbanization (known at that time as the Ministry of Environment and Forestry), commonly referred to as the GBF regulation, The Regulation on the Preparation and Distribution of Safety Data Sheets on Hazardous Substances and Preparations, together with this regulation, established the requirement that persons who would prepare Safety Data Forms must be certified by organizations accredited in the field of personnel certification in this field. Although it was considered a difficulty for the industry at the time of publication, today it has caused the training and certification of sufficient personnel regarding compliance with both internal and external regulations in this field, and has had infinite positive contributions to the development and competitiveness of the industry.

Later, this requirement continued in the GBF regulation no. 29204 dated 13 December 2014, and finally, with the inclusion of requirements for the training and certification of Chemical Assessment Experts in the KKDİK regulation no. 30105 published by the T.C. Ministry of Environment and Urbanization in Appendix 18 of said regulation, it has gained a different dimension.

If we also examine the accreditation issue specifically in terms of these regulations and in the context of Personnel Certification, we can describe the procedure as follows: Organizations wishing to become accredited; for both Safety Data Form preparers and Chemical Assessment Experts, Personnel Certification programs, according to the regulation, must first apply for preliminary approval from the T.C. Ministry of Environment and Urbanization regarding their programs, and after receiving approval from the Ministry, establish their systems in accordance with the TS EN ISO/EC 17024 standard, and then apply to TÜRKAK. Following the approval decision given by TÜRKAK after its inspection, organizations can initiate the necessary certification and certification process, conduct examinations and certify personnel. Personnel certification activities must be carried out according to the TS EN ISO/EC 17024 standard and on a system based on fair, equal, objective, reliable and confidentiality principles for each candidate or participant. Among the examination prerequisites, whether or not there is a training requirement, as stated in the 17024 standard, training and examination processes must be kept independent of each other. Persons serving as trainers must not participate in the examination process of the candidate they provide training services to, and this is of great importance in terms of fair-equal treatment and impartiality. Like all institutions accredited in these fields, at Kimcert Kimyasal Mevzuat Sertifikasyon ve Belgelendirme Ltd. Şti., where I serve as Certification Manager, we carry out personnel certification activities both in the field of preparation of "Safety Data Forms" as specified in the '' Regulation on Safety Data Forms on Harmful Substances and Mixtures'' published in the Official Gazette no. 29204 dated 13 December 2014 by the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, and in the field of ''Chemical Assessment Expert'' as specified in the ''Regulation on Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals'' published in the Official Gazette no. 30105 dated 23 June 2017, in accordance with the procedures prepared according to TS EN ISO/EC 17024 and TÜRKAK standards, independently, impartially and fairly.

If we briefly summarize the objectives of personnel certification programs and the benefits they bring to the industry under headings;

• To strengthen the relationship between education and employment, • To provide personnel authorization by evaluating learning outcomes within the framework of national and international regulations and standards, • To increase service quality and quality assurance in personnel certification, • To conduct certification activities in accordance with national and international standards, • To provide access to learning, progression in learning, recognition and comparability of learning, • To support lifelong learning and ensure personnel are certified in a way that adapts to the global competitive environment. It should not be forgotten that our industry with qualified workforce and personnel resources certified under the Accreditation system will be in a competitive, regulation-compliant and sustainable development in domestic and foreign markets, and that some regulatory requirements that were initially seen as difficulties and obstacles are actually educational and motivating elements. Melih Babayiğit Certification Manager Kimcert Kimyasal Mevzuat Sertifikasyon ve Belgelendirme Ltd. Şti.