< Previousbmta.co.uk DEMONSTRATING AGILITY DURING LOCKDOWN Paul Greenwood, Operations Director at UKAS 20 The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) as the sole National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom recognised by government to assess against internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services, had an increased responsibility to ensure that confidence could be maintained in the quality of products and services at a time of unprecedented uncertainty and change. Initially, all but the most essential site visits were cancelled and converted to remote assessments. Many applications for conducting such assessments were trialled - Zoom, Skype, Facetime, WhatsApp for example but eventually Microsoft Teams was selected as being most suitable to provide the necessary flexibility and resilience. Additional resources were implemented for file sharing (e.g. DropBox) but SharePoint has become our standard application for transferring large volumes of information. Policies and procedures were rapidly developed to support remote assessment in extraordinary circumstances (UKAS Technical Policy Statement TPS73 for example) which were then adopted by international bodies such as the International Accreditation Forum (IAF), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and the European Co-operation for Accreditation (EA) into their range of guidance and support documents. The success of remote assessment has been phenomenal and is as much a testament to the hard work of accredited organisations to engage with and support the process as it is to the development of the programme by UKAS. Customer satisfaction with the revised approach has been at a “world-class” NPS level throughout the pandemic and while UKAS has yet to fully evaluate the success of remote assessment using the outcomes of subsequent on-site visits, the numbers and themes of non-conformities identified remotely is not hugely different from that which would normally be expected. Remote assessment, therefore, remains a tool that will be retained for the future. It will form an integral part of a UKAS objective to implement an approach to assessment that is likely to result in changes When mandatory lockdown to contain the transmission of Covid-19 was announced by the UK Government in March 2020, many businesses rushed to implement changes to their operations, policies and procedures in order to continue work with minimum possible disruption.bmta.co.uk 21 to the frequency of assessment that will be determined by evaluating risk-based criteria for each customer. With lockdown, UKAS also received an unprecedented number of new applicant laboratories, working to support the national Covid-19 testing programme. In specifying accreditation for the private testing and sampling, UK Government has been instrumental in encouraging over 500 laboratories to apply for accreditation and set extremely demanding deadlines of around six months for these organisations to gain accreditation. The challenges which have consequently arisen have been significant but have driven equally significant changes in UKAS processes in order to ensure that the Department of Health and Social care (DHSC) target deadliness can be met. The vast majority of the Covid-19 applicant laboratories are unfamiliar with accreditation and its requirements, so UKAS developed a three-stage approach to accreditation to guide them through the process. Stage 1 is the application stage; it requires the applicant to submit basic documentary evidence to UKAS to show that it has a legal identity and prompts for basic quality system information. Stage 2 is a gap analysis that is conducted by the applicant in response to 13 key questions posed by UKAS and stage 3 is a full initial assessment to determine the laboratory’s competence and compliance against the requirements of ISO 15189 and/or ISO/IEC 17025. Feedback and support are provided at all three stages to ensure the customer is able to navigate from application to grant in a controlled, stepwise manner. To support applicants through the process, a series of web-based training modules have been created to explain key requirements of the standards and other supporting guidance. These PASS eLearning modules are broken down into short, easy to understand topics with some useful guidance and answers to frequently asked questions. They guide the customer from application through to grant of accreditation and are freely provided to all applicants – it is our intention to further develop these modules and roll them out more widely to other applicant organisations in the coming months. In addition to the implementation of PASS, UKAS has developed a reporting structure (PAT) that allows all reporting to be conducted using a single template rather than the multiple assessment reports and improvement action reports that are a feature of its normal process. This single report ensures that all information is retained centrally and speeds up not only the assessment but also the independent decision-making process. UKAS is currently testing a unified reporting structure for all customers which is expected to be rolled out in the Autumn of 2021. Finally, for the Covid-19 applicants, instead of a time- consuming exchange of evidence to clear non-conformities identified at the initial assessment, UKAS is conducting a close-out assessment via MS Teams where the assessors can ensure that appropriate action has been taken by the applicant laboratory to address the issues – this is working well and is another of the efficiencies that have been developed during lockdown that UKAS is seeking to embed into its toolbox going forwards. The intention throughout has been to simplify and de- mystify the background processes associated with granting, maintaining and renewing accreditation, and UKAS will continue to critically review its procedures to ensure that they remain simple, efficient and effective.bmta.co.uk MEASUREMENT AND TESTING IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR Tenders Direct Calibration Services, Recalibration Services, Instrument Verification Services, Meter Verification Services (C002) Test Equipment, Measurement Equipment, Calibration Equipment, Oscilloscopes, Gauges, Optical Measurement (T012) April 20218 notices published55 notices published Last 12 Months69 notices published545 notices published Sample noticeLink TBCLink TBC The Tender Writing Process The public sector offers many business opportunities for the measurement and testing industry. If you are planning on bidding for some of this work – you’ll want to know where to begin. To help you get started, Tenders Direct has created this nine-step tender writing process for you to follow. It details the most efficient way of planning your proposals, helping you to focus on what is needed and avoid dreaded rewrites. 1. Evaluate the Tender – Go/No Go Before starting any proposals, you will need to consider the criteria to determine if tenders are worthwhile or not. Without some form of initial evaluation, you are likely to encounter problems later on. There will be many considerations, to get started you should ask yourself: • How closely is the tender aligned to our business strategy? • Can we meet the requirement? • Do we have the experience needed? 222. Review and Deconstruct Available Information Ensure you have read and understood all of the information available. Make this information easy to access and refer back to this information when writing your Bid Plan (see step 3) to ensure nothing is missed. 3. Create your Bid Plan With your requirements clearly outlined and all of the necessary information covered, you will be ready to plan for how and when you will prepare your responses. Your plan will consist of dates, names and actions against everything you need up until the submission deadline. 4. Strategy Development With points 1-3 complete, you should be able to identify overarching themes that will need to be consistently referenced throughout your response. Think about your positioning, what you know about the competitors and what is important to the buyer. 5. Answer Planning Combine the work conducted in stages 1 and 2 to prepare a plan for how each question will be answered. Look to create a range of headings or bullet points for each question, planning your structure but not producing a detailed narrative. 6. Answer Development Allow a lot of time for this activity. This is where you add more information to your themes, by focusing on what topics will be covered and creating lists of all the information you’ll be required to include – you are building on the bullet points captured in the previous section. 7. Answering Do not start this without first planning all of the actions needed to complete your proposal on time, or having first created a plan for your responses. Follow the plans you have created in earlier stages, refer back to them and ensure nothing is overlooked. Your responses should tell the buyer about the benefits they will receive, rather than just describing what you offer. 8. Proofing and Review Involve others who have not been directly involved with the proposal to proof read. They can ensure that your proposal both reads well and makes sense. We tend to miss our own typographical errors, most commonly duplicated or omitted words, so a fresh pair of eyes can ensure your response reads as intended. 9. Tender Submission Always leave time to get your proposal submitted. Do not leave it until the last minute. Systems can go down, connections can fail and other unexpected issues can all delay submission. Try to leave at least a day to get your document submitted. Here to Help You Find and Win Work with the Public Sector BMTA members receive up to 20% discount with Tenders Direct. With Tenders direct you receive email notifications of all UK, ROI and OJEU measurement and testing tenders as soon as they are published. Tenders Direct also offer other services including training and consultancy. Visit www.tendersdirect. co.uk or call 0800 222 9009 for more information. Here to help the measurement and testing community BMTA was created in 1990 in response to the need for an independent ‘lobby’ for the private sector to speak with one voice to Government, UKAS, BSI and other official bodies on issues affecting the whole measurement and testing community. We represent the interests of all of our members, as well as offering a wide range of benefits – including dedicated trade listings, networking opportunities and discounted training. bmta.co.uk 23bmta.co.uk MEMBER PROFILE ACOUSTICAL INVESTIGATION AND RESEARCH ORGANISATION (AIRO) AIRO routinely measures the sound insulation of window systems, masonry and lightweight walls, ventilators, floors and roofs together with the sound absorption properties of objects and materials such as office screens and mineral fibre ceiling tiles. AIRO also measures the sound power levels of products such as MVHR (Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery) units. The organisation has successfully developed methods for more challenging acoustical measurements including very low sound levels from auditoria lighting for a project in Singapore to very high sound insulation facades for a residential project adjacent to an aggregates wharf on the River Thames. Of recent note are laboratory measurement projects to determine the acoustical privacy of modern office privacy pods. The AIRO laboratory comprises a series of chambers, made structurally independent of each other by being physically separate and mounted on anti-vibration mounts. The chambers are designed to have a diffuse sound environment (uniform throughout the space) by being reverberant, irregularly shaped (to avoid parallel planes) and with additional suspended acoustically reflective panels to further diffuse the sound in the chamber. Undue noise transmission from outside to inside the chambers is minimised by both the heavy masonry construction of the chambers and the chambers inside a further overall masonry building envelope. Double sets of specialist heavy doors with cam locks onto perimeter seals provide access. Samples are built into the appropriately sized aperture between a pair of chambers for testing their sound insulation or installed or simply placed in a chamber when sound absorption or sound power level measurements are made. 24 Acoustical Investigation & Research Organisation Ltd (AIRO) provides measurement and testing of the acoustical properties of materials, constructional elements and products both in AIRO’s purpose-built laboratory at Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire and on-site. bmta.co.uk 25 Modern acoustical measurement equipment at AIRO comprises microphones, acoustical calibrators and sound level frequency analysers – all of the highest accuracy class and regularly verified by calibrations traceable to national reference standards. Signal generation equipment includes dodecahedron loudspeakers, so-called “tapping” machines that drop, at a defined rate and impact velocity, five steel hammers onto a floor surface and a reference sound source for sound power level determinations. Independent technical oversight through AIRO’s accreditation by UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) and membership of associations such as the BMTA signals to the customer the value AIRO places on high quality, state of the art test and measurement practice. It also provides opportunities to exchange information and keep up to date with developments in the field. Similarly, staff volunteer work over many years on relevant British Standards Institution committees, sponsored by BMTA and together with participation on the councils and committees of the Association of Noise Consultants and the Institute of Acoustics underpins AIRO’s good standing in the field. This gives AIRO the opportunity to give something back to the mutual benefit of members of the acoustical community. David Watts is AIRO’s Technical Director and Principal Consultant. He is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics. He represents BMTA on two BSI committees: • EH/1/3 - Acoustics - Industrial and Residential Noise; GME/21/6/4 • Human exposure to vibration and shock in buildings and structures.bmta.co.uk BMTA COUNCIL MEMBER PROFILE JEFF LLEWELLYN PRESIDENT, BMTA Our feature on our BMTA Council Members gives a little more insight into the people behind BMTA. Why did they become BMTA Council members and what do they believe are the benefits to being a member of the Association? 26 Can you briefly describe what your role at the BMTA is, Jeff? JL - The President’s only formal duty is to chair the Annual General Meeting. Apart from that, my role as President means I am an ambassador for the Association together with the Chair, representing it in various stakeholder forums and promoting its and its members’ interests. I am also a voice for the Association in the political and business community, raising awareness of the importance of measurement, testing and calibration to the economy in general, and consumer protection in particular. How did you get into this profession? How long have you been working in your field? JL - I am a chemist by profession and have worked in a number of different fields in my career. Since leaving Swansea University in 1973 where I was a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Carbohydrate Chemistry, I worked at the Laboratory of the Government Chemist until 1984, first in food analysis and later in measurement and analysis of indoor air quality. From 1984 until 1989 I worked at the Department of the Environment, mainly on indoor air quality and asbestos in buildings. From 1989 until 2002 I was at the Building Research Establishment as Head of Organic Materials Division, where I was concerned with the performance and durability of construction products. Following its privatisation in 1997 when BRE became BRE Ltd, I was Director of the Centre for Environment and Health, with a strong focus on sustainable buildings and indoor air quality. In 2002 I rejoined the Civil Service as Chief Executive of what was then the National Weights and Measures Laboratory - a move into a new field of metrology for me, in which I am still involved. This issue our council member profile features Jeff Llewellyn. Jeff is Presdent of the BMTA. He is semi-retired but manages to keep himself busy as President of the BMTA. We asked him to tell us a little about himself.bmta.co.uk 27 What do you think is your biggest accomplishment in your career? JL - I have numerous accomplishments of which I am proud, but perhaps the four which gave me the greatest satisfaction are: • As part of my PhD research, making 10 compounds entirely new to mankind and publishing their properties in the literature. They were of academic interest only with no practical applications but nevertheless, I made them! • In 1986 a small group of us published the Department of the Environment guidance booklet on asbestos materials in buildings (and how to deal with them in order to minimise the risk to health for occupants). This guidance still forms the basis of HSE’s policy and guidance today (although they have developed it quite a lot since then). • Also in 1986, I led UK Officials in negotiations in the EU Council of Ministers on a Directive on the prevention of environmental pollution by asbestos. Despite being a politically sensitive and technically challenging issue, an agreement was reached in the Council of Ministers and, in due course, an EU Directive was published. • Taking the Weights and Measures Laboratory from being an overlooked small Government Agency to a dynamic and profitable high performing Government Business, delivering new services with an expanded remit. How did you get to where you are now? What was your career journey? JL - After completing my PhD in Carbohydrate Chemistry at Swansea in 1972, I became a Post Doctoral Research Fellow. Late in 1973, I joined what was then the Scientific Civil Service in the Laboratory of the Government Chemist (now LGC), which at that time was a Department of Trade and Industry Laboratory. In 1984 I moved to the Department of the Environment, Central Directorate of Environmental Protection in a technical policy advisory role. After a brief secondment to the Transport and Road Research Laboratory (now TRL Ltd) in 1989, I joined the Building Research Establishment which at that time was a DoE Research Laboratory. It subsequently became an Executive Agency, was privatised in 1997 and me along with it. I left there in 2002 to become Chief Executive of the National Weights and Measures Laboratory which by then was an Executive Agency of DTI, a job that I loved. During my time there I was invited to become the UK National Member for EUROLAB and to join the BMTA Council. I retired from the Civil Service in 2007 but continued as the UK EUROLAB National Member on behalf of BMTA, and to serve on Council. In 2008 I was invited by Council to become President and in 2009 BMTA Council appointed me Chief Executive on the demise of Tim Inman, the previous CE. I served on the EUROLAB Board for seven years and as Vice President for six, eventually standing down in 2017. I stepped down as BMTA CE at the end of 2019 when the post was abolished. Why do you do what you do? What gets you up in the morning? JL - After a long and varied career in which I have learned much, I like to give something back. In my view, the measurement, testing, calibration and analysis community is very much overlooked and taken for granted in the UK. Yet it performs a vital service, underpinning consumer and environmental protection, food safety and health as well as industry and trade. I try to do as much as I can to raise the awareness of decision-makers and the public of the vital importance of metrology, the TIC sector and the people who work in it. Why did you join BMTA? JL - DTI and its laboratories (NPL, LGC, Warren Spring) was a founder member. What value do you receive as a member of BMTA? JL - Networking with other measurement and testing laboratories and the ability to engage in dialogue with Government Departments and UKAS. I also value the news and information, technical discussions including webinars, seminars and workshops. You’re a member of the BMTA Council. Why did you join the Council? JL - I was invited to join the BMTA Council in 2006 when I was CE of NWML. What else can you tell us about yourself? JL - Despite my Welsh name, I am a Bristolian by birth who lived in Swansea for eight years whilst at University. I moved to London in 1973 and now live in NW Surrey. I am married to a former nurse with a son, daughter and four grandchildren, two boys and two girls. My passion is offshore sailing. I am a member of the Civil Service Sailing Association and maintain their boat ‘Sea Essay of Hamble’ which is berthed on the River Hamble. I even get to sail it sometimes! Other hobbies include anything to do with railways, model making and being slave labour for my wife in the garden and allotment!bmta.co.uk HELP US TO HELP YOU Contribute to the BMTA newsletter... To help us research and plan the most relevant and useful information for BMTA members we would like your help to identify and share relevant topics, research on new technologies, techniques, news, events and publications you think may be of interest or that you would like to promote to your fellow BMTA member community. Send your article to: editor@bmta.co.uk with a short synopsis and an image and brief biography of the author. Equally, should your business produce any information that you would like to share, please submit this to enquiries@bmta.co.uk Share this newsletter with your team... Please forward this newsletter onto members of your technical team that may find the newsletter content of interest. Invite your team to sign up to the BMTA newsletter... Please encourage members of your team and professional contacts to sign up to this newsletter. It would also mean that you don’t have to remember to forward it on. Simply visit: www.bmta.co.uk 28Next >