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Evolution of Quality Management System at the Ruđer Bošković Institute

Requests for laboratory accreditation according to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard have become more and more frequent, both to commercial and scientific laboratories. Although Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) is a scientific institute whose primary role is scientific research, it also provides professional services to public/customers. Traditionally, these services were not expected to be accredited. However, customers’ needs changed and the need for accredited services provided by the RBI’s laboratories emerged. Therefore, the need for quality management system (QMS) complying with the ISO/IEC 17025 standard’s requirements occurred at RBI. Development of the QMS at Ruđer Bošković Institute has been presented from different perspectives, long- term and short-term, and the time needed for its development was given in years, or working hours where possible. Its evolution in phases, from the initial idea through establishing and implementation of different QMSs in individual laboratories to establishing and implementation of the uniform QMS at the Institute level applicable to all RBI laboratories preparing for accreditation, is presented. The longest phase was the first phase of the awareness development and the emerging of the idea for the need of QMS and laboratory accreditation. The first critical point was the necessity of the first laboratory QMS and obtaining of the first certificate of accreditation in 2008. The second critical point was in 2015 when favourable conditions for establishing the QMS at the RBI level were met and the uniform QMS was established and its implementation began. Validity of the RBI’s uniform QMS was confirmed in 2017 when the first laboratory obtained accreditation based on this system. Altogether, approximately 20–25 years were needed from the initial idea to proven successful application of the uniform RBI’s QMS. At RBI, only selected commercial services are subjected to accreditation, while flexibility needed for scientific research is maintained. The regulator’s and large customers’ requests for accredited services were the principal motivation for QMS establishing and its implementation and, accordingly, for laboratory accreditation.

Accreditation ; ISO/IEC 17025 ; Public research institute ; Quality management system (QMS) ; Testing laboratory

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