Clause 6.2.2

You asked the meaning of “qualification ,experience", which relates to the personnel clause 6.2.2 in ISO 17025.

It is mandatory that the requirements for each role are documented and records kept. It starts with identifying the personnel resource needs of the laboratory and defining them in terms of functional role, in terms of primary laboratory activities (refer to clause 5). Meaning that although the organisation may employ a person as say “Grade 4 laboratory staff”, their role is that of “technician”, “laboratory manager”, “lead analyst”, or “laboratory assistant”. For each of these functional roles, the laboratory must document requirements for education, qualification, training, technical knowledge, skills and experience.

Qualifications are formal evidence of completing and meeting (passing) the required criteria of an institution which has a formal authority through for example a national qualification framework, or chartered institution of professionals. Example requirement for a function could be an Honours degree or higher from a recognised university plus a National Certificate in Quality Management Systems through an formally recognised institution. Note that qualification requirements can also be part (completed modules), for example “conducting audits”, a module of the diploma.

Experience is knowledge and skills that a person gains over a period of time while participating in activities. For example, a requirement for a function a could be “Minimum  five 5 years’ experience working in an ISO 17025 accredited analytical chemistry testing laboratory conducting sample testing and quality assurance activities. At least two years  developing or reviewing management system documents and at least two years internal auditor experience”.

The following toolkit document Competence, Training and Awareness Procedure may be of assistance, available. There are four related appendices, all part of the toolkit available at https://advisera.com/17025academy/iso-17025-documentation-toolkit/