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Regulatory building control accreditation in the US

New Zealand is not the only nation to use an accreditation model to regulate building control functions: it is also used as a quality assurance mechanism in countries like the United States.

Since January 2005, the International Accreditation Service (IAS) has offered accreditation to building control departments of city and county councils in the US. The IAS is an internationally recognised accreditation agency for inspection bodies and laboratories, and its programme provides national recognition that building control departments are professionally qualified and competent.

Accreditation is voluntary in the US and is promoted as good business practice, especially given the more litigious system in which building control departments operate. This is a different driver from New Zealand (where building control departments are required to be accredited as building consent authorities under the Building Act 2004). Although the motivation for seeking accreditation is different, there are many similarities, especially in the accreditation standards and assessment process.

Accreditation standards and criteria

The IAS has a similar role to International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ), the statutorily appointed accreditation body for New Zealand's building consent accreditation scheme. Both assess applicant organisations against a set of standards and criteria: in the US it is the international standard ISO 17020 General Requirement for the Operation of Various Types of Bodies Performing Inspection. This standard has 74 criteria covering the following areas:

  • administrative requirements
  • independence, impartiality, integrity and confidentiality
  • organisation and management structures and responsibilities
  • quality assurance management systems
  • personnel skills and technical competencies
  • facilities and equipment
  • inspection methods and procedures
  • records management
  • inspection reports and inspection certificates
  • contracting
  • complaints and appeals.

ISO 17020 was the standard originally proposed for New Zealand's accreditation scheme. However, after feedback it was tailored to the needs, capacity and capability limitations of the New Zealand local government sector.

What can New Zealand learn from the US experience?

Department representative Malcolm MacMillan, Manager Performance Monitoring and Review, visited IAS, Las Vegas City Council and Henderson City Council in December last year to look at the US accreditation experience and bring the lessons learnt back to New Zealand.

Many of the accreditation issues in the US mirror those experienced by the New Zealand regulatory building control sector during the transition to the new scheme.

Timing

Las Vegas City Council and Henderson City Council found the preparation, assessment, and approval process for accreditation to ISO 17020 took several months. The work was substantial, and the initial assessments by IAS required the building control departments to make a number of corrective actions. It then took time to develop and implement the systems required by ISO 17020. Many of the 22 organisations now being assessed have had similar experiences. The lesson to be learned here for New Zealand's building control sector is get applications in as soon as possible so there is time to make corrective actions and achieve accreditation.

Benefit to be gained through accreditation

Accredited councils identified the following positive outcomes:

  • increased and improved staff training and continuing professional development
  • more workable budgets and better planning processes
  • increased support and resources for management and staff, including additional staff
  • improved documentation and technology
  • an enhanced processing system that has resulted in an appropriate level of procedural requirements (rather than too many, or procedures that go beyond what are necessary)
  • refined and improved risk management practices leading to improved confidence for organisational insurers, and a better way of managing potential legal action.

Key success factors to achieving accreditation

The relationship between the IAS and the organisation seeking accreditation underpinned many of the successful aspects of the scheme. Working as a team led to better accreditation outcomes. Specific key success factors included:

  • carrying out any recommendations made by IAS during initial assessments before the on-site assessment visit (for example, that organisations began corrective actions as soon as these were identified)
  • the high level of support offered by IAS to building control departments during the assessment process
  • the developing trust between IAS and the building control department, which led to increased support for the changes requested by IAS
  • providing additional training in operational systems and processes for employees and building control department contractors
  • providing better technology to ease workloads and to cater for extra staff
  • IAS maintaining support, guidance and advice to the building control department throughout the accreditation process.

More information

More information about accreditation of building control departments can be found at www.iasonline.org International Accreditation Service, Inc. website.  More information about New Zealand's accreditation and registration scheme can be found at http://www.dbh.govt.nz/building-officials. Alternatively, you can call the Department's Building Consent Authority Accreditation project team on 0800 242 243.