Maintaining Certification

After the submarine enters the fleet, SUBSAFE certification must be maintained through the life of the slip. Three tools are used the Reentry Control (REC) Process, the Unrestricted Operations Maintenance Requirements Card (URO MRC) program, and the audit program. 

The Reentry Control (REC) process carefully controls work and testing within the SUBSAFE boundary, that is, the structures, systems, and components that are critical to the watertight integrity and recovery capability of the submarine. The purpose of REC is to provide maximum reasonable assurance that the areas disturbed have been restored to their fully certified condition. The procedures used provide an identifiable, accountable, and auditable record of the work performed. 

REC control procedures have three goals (1) to maintain work discipline by identifying the work to be performed and the standards to be met, (2) to establish personal accountability by having the responsible personnel sign their names on the 

The third aspect of maintaining certification is the audit program. Because the audit process is used for more general purposes than simply maintaining certification, it is considered in a separate section. 

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Proper care of laboratory animals used in research is a basic requirement to assure the validity and reproducibility of the results obtained. Animals used in drug research are subject to the strictest standards of care beginning with the animal supplier. For the most commonly used laboratory animals, these standards of care often apply for the entire life of the animal. Guidelines for proper care of research animals are provided by the Department of Health and Human Services. The American Association for the Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care provides the service of certifying laboratories complying with those guidelines. All reputable industrial drug development houses strive to achieve and maintain certification by the association. 

The AAPCC Certification Examination for Specialists in Poison Information is intended for poison center staff whose primary job is handling calls involving human toxic exposures. The exam is administered annually at 40-50 test sites throughout the United States, and Canada. The exam takes place each year in the afternoon of the second Wednesday in May. Successful completion of this examination will lead to the designation of Certified Specialist in Poison Information. To maintain certification, the examination must be passed every seven years. Applicants must meet the following criteria to sit for the examination ... 

Currently certified specialists in poison information are not required to be recertified until seven years from the time of certification. If a certified specialist seeks to be recertified before the seven years have elapsed, he/ she must pass the examination in order to maintain certification. 

Accreditation rules do not allow the Certification Body also to provide consulting services to obtain or maintain certification/registration within the same organisational entity because of the conflicts of interest that can arise. Consultancy is considered to be participation in an active creative manner in the development of the item (e.g. management system) to be assessed. If the certification body offers accredited certification to those organisations to which it has provided consulting, it cannot be objective in its evaluation of the system, since it has helped to develop it. However certification bodies are allowed to carry out some activities without them being considered as consultancy e.g. 

EPA will certify any firm that meets these requirements unless it determines that the environmental compliance history of the firm, its principals, or its key employees demonstrates an unwillingness or inability to maintain compliance with environmental statutes or regulations. To maintain certification, the firm must submit an application and the correct amount of fees every 5 years. As noted above, EPA will establish the required fees in a subsequent rulemaking. 

Edcfy-cufrent NDT inspections using spatial data (sampled scans) ha >e many benefits. They separate the two conflicting aspects of an inspection scanning and signal interpretation. An instrument/display (client/server) based NDT inspection based on sampled scan data aides in the training and certification of inspectors. It can be used over the Internet or in-house Intranet networks to train or examine inspectors at multiple or remote sites. This saves travel time and resources as defects, instrumentation and teaching can all be consolidated Samples can be maintained and distributed from a central certification body providing more control andflexibility. 

Until 1990 the EPA maintained a Hst of chemicals suitable for potable water treatment ia the United States. Siace then the entire question of certification and standards has been turned over to a group of organi2ations headed by the National Sanitation Eoundation, which has issued voluntary standards. As of January 1992, standards had been issued for most of the principal inorganic products, but only for two polymers, poly(DADMAC) and Epi-DMA (epichl orohydrin dimethyl amine) polymers (78). Certifications for commercial products meeting specified standards are issued by the National Sanitation Eoundation, Underwriter Laboratories, and Risk Eocus/Versar (79). 

The ADA maintains a Hst of certified dental materials and devices based upon the certification by the maker that the item complies with ADA specification and that the testing for specification compliance of the item is procured in Association laboratories. The ADA also maintains a Hst of classified dental materials and devices which prove to be acceptable or provisionally acceptable to the Association based upon data submitted by the apphcant and data available in the Hterature. 

Does contractor maintain an insurance policy of the type and minimum amount as specified m the contracted agreement (Please attach a copy of current insurance certificate.) ... 

Certificate of Insurance A document verifying that a company maintains insurance at a specific coverage level. 

Roberts, Hewitt, and Gary Robinson. ISO 14001 EMS Implementation Handbook. Oxford, U.K. Butterworth-Heinemann, 1998. - A guide for implementing and maintaining an ISO 14001 EMS. Includes recommendations, checklists, templates, certification tips, case-study materials, and more. 

Although the schemes exist to satisfy the needs of industry, industry has no power to verify that the standards are being maintained by the accreditation and certification bodies. 

The trade associations will also process applications for lATF recognition and for auditor qualification. A central database of auditors will be maintained so that auditor competency can be monitored. Auditor qualification and re-qualification results, complaints, and movements will be stored so that the validity of auditor certificates can be ascertained. 

The filing provisions you have made should enable your records to be readily retrievable however, you need to maintain your files if the stored information is to be of any use. In practice, records will collect at the place they are created and unless promptly removed to secure files may be mislaid, lost, or inadvertently destroyed. Once complete, quality records should not be changed. If they are subsequently found to be inaccurate, new records should be created. Alterations to records should be prohibited as they bring into doubt the validity of any certification or authentication as no one will know whether the alteration was made before or after the records were authenticated. In the event that alterations are unavoidable due to time or economic reasons, errors should be struck through in order that the original wording can still be read, and the new data added and endorsed by the certifying authority. 

Copies of the certificate should be retained on file as evidence of training. You may find it useful to issue each individual with a personal training log, but do not rely on this being maintained or retained by the person. Often training records are held at some distance away from an individual s place of work and in certain cases, especially for certificated personnel performing special processes, individuals should carry some identification of their proficiency so as to avoid conflict if challenged. 

Maintaining flame arrester reliahility is critical to snccessfnl operation. Modifications to the system which may change gas composition shonld he care-fnlly evaluated to ensnre that the mixture with the lowest MESG is still within flame arrester certification. Other management of change issues include piping modificadons, increased or decreased pressures, and the introdnc-tion of corrosive, condensahle, or odier potentially harmfnl materials. 

The role of the European, U. S. and other pharmacopoeia in the production, certification and use of reference substances has already been described. Section 5.5 reviewed the processes and techniques used by the European pharmacopoeia in their production of reference substances. The main pharmacopoeias maintain comprehensive web sites and issue publications describing their activities, but as they are not yet a main part of the ISO REMCO community, it is necessary to visit their websites for further information. 

Once active, you must meet further requirements to maintain active status. These include completion of technician-level training and certification in hazardous material (hazmat) operations. In addition, after becoming a member, you must also attend a minimum of 50% of all drills conducted by F.A.S.T. and go to at least one F.A.S.T. conference. You may qualify for alternative credit for drills by proving previous experience in actual hazmat emergency response. 

Vendor contract data shall be fumi shed and maintained as specified in Appendix O. Each drawing, bill of material, and data sheet shall have a title block in its lower right-hand comer that shows the date of certification, a reference to all identification data specified in 6.1.2, the revision number and date, and the title. 

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