Quality Strategy Toolkit
for Disability Employment and Rehabilitation Services
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0 |
Introduction |
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| 0.1 | Object and field of application |
| 0.1.1 | This procedure sets down the requirements (accreditation criteria) for bodies seeking accreditation by the Governing Board of the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), to audit disability employment organizations and certify that they meet the Disability Services Standards (DSS) set down by the Australian Government. The disability employment organizations referred to in this procedure are those that receive funding under the Commonwealth Disability Services Act 1986 for programs administered by the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA), and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). |
| 0.1.2 | FaCSIA administers programs for organizations which provide supported employment, wage phase-in or targeted support for people with disability. DEWR administers programs for organizations which provide vocational rehabilitation, and the Disability Employment Network (DEN) (formerly open employment services), which provides assistance to people with disability to obtain and/or retain paid employment in the open labour market. |
| 0.1.3 | Bodies seeking JAS-ANZ accreditation shall satisfy the requirements of ISO/IEC 17021:2006 and the normative criteria (including the attached Annexes) in this procedure. |
| 0.1.4 | Accreditation in conformity with ISO/IEC 17021:2006 and the criteria in this procedure acknowledges that bodies possess the necessary competence and reliability to operate a conformity assessment system and will thereby facilitate their acceptance or recognition on a national and international basis. |
| 0.1.5 | If there is conflict between the criteria in this procedure and that of the referenced normative documents, the criteria in this procedure will take precedence. |
0.2 |
Background |
| 0.2.1 | ISO/IEC 17021:2006 is an International Standard which sets out requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems. It provides a good benchmark for bodies that audit and certify disability employment organizations as it addresses their competence and impartiality and has been tested internationally as being appropriate and sufficient to ensure the credibility and reliability of certificates issued by such bodies. |
| 0.2.2 | To facilitate the uniform interpretation and application of ISO/IEC 17021:2006 for audit and certification of disability employment organizations, the Disability Employment Services Technical Committee (DESTC) has produced the normative criteria in this procedure. |
| 0.2.3 | The normative criteria are identified in the body of this procedure. The attached Annexes are also considered to comprise normative criteria. |
| 0.2.4 | All the major headings (numbers 1-10) in bold in the "Conformity assessment - Requirements" section of this procedure are reproduced from ISO/IEC 17021:2006, along with some of the sub-headings. The remaining text of ISO/IEC 17021:2006 is not included in this document and shall be referred to separately. |
| 0.2.5 | This procedure does not diminish any of the requirements of ISO/IEC 17021. The clause numbers in this procedure are prefixed with the letter 'J' to indicate mandatory interpretative criteria developed by the JAS-ANZ Disability Employment Services Technical Committee for the certification of disability employment organizations. |
| 0.2.6 | The Department may review criteria or set additional criteria, in consultation with all stakeholders. In any case, these criteria will be reviewed within two years after implementation; or as the need arises. Revised or additional criteria will be the subject of an agreement between JAS-ANZ and the Department and will be regarded as part of these accreditation criteria. Where there is inconsistency between the revised or additional criteria and this procedure, the requirements of the revised or additional criteria will prevail. |
| 0.3 | Transition Policy |
| 0.3.1 | JAS-ANZ Procedure 18, Issue 3, will replace JAS-ANZ Procedure 18, issue 2 as the JAS-ANZ criteria for bodies seeking JAS-ANZ accreditation for certification of disability employment organizations. JAS-ANZ shall evaluate the operations and planning of bodies accredited by JAS-ANZ to Procedure 18, Issue 3, to ensure that full implementation will be in place before 15 September 2008. |
| 0.3.2 | For applicant certification bodies, following the publication of this policy, all document reviews and initial assessments shall be conducted to Procedure 18, Issue 3. |
| 0.4 | Implementation |
| 0.4.1 | All assessments prior to 15 September 2008 will assess the certification body's preparedness for the changes and any deficiencies shall be reported as observations. |
| 0.4.2 | All accredited bodies shall be required to demonstrate implementation of Procedure 18, Issue 3, at the next scheduled surveillance/reassessment visit after 15 September 2008. Any deficiencies shall be reported as nonconformities. |
| 0.4.3 | All applicant certification bodies will be required to demonstrate compliance with Procedure 18, Issue 3, before accreditation is granted. |
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