Cooperation among Department of Science Service (DSS) and 4 Ministries in Arranging the Seminar to Raise Awareness of World Accreditation
Due to the importance of World Accreditation Day holding annually on June 9, Department of Science Service (DSS) along with 4 organizations including Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) of Ministry of Industry, National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS) of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Department of Medical Sciences (DMSC) of Ministry of Public Health, and National Institute of Metrology (NIMT) of Ministry of Science and Technology organized the seminar and exhibition with theme of “Accreditation: A Global Tool to Support Public Policy”. This year’s theme focuses on the role and the importance of accreditation to be a tool to promote public policy for all over the world. Mrs. Atchaka Sibunruang, Minister of Industry presided over a seminar at the Centra Government Complex Hotel & Convention Centre, Chaeng Watthana, Bangkok on 1st October 2016.
Dr. Suthiweth T.Saengchantara, Director General of DSS said “the accreditation raises the confidence in the competency of the assessment and accreditation activities orgranized by the conformity assessment bodies which are responsible for accrediting the product and service qualities, staff competency as well as testing. The conformity assessment bodies are also trusted and accepted by the member countries. These are beneficial to the assessment and accreditation systems of Thailand, international trade and competitiveness of Thai products and services in the World trade.”
The Director General of DSS also said “the Bureau of Laboratory Accreditation (BLA), DSS is a Thai government accreditation body (AB) authorized by National Standardization Council (NSC) of Thailand for providing the accreditation services for testing laboratories, arranging the proficiency testing (PT) programs, and producing the reference materials. The BLA-DSS has supported public policy continually. For example, the BLA-DSS has cooperated with Regulatory Body (RB), especially in aspect of pollution control for environmental protection, food safety, and feed quality.”
In the morning session, Dr. Suthiweth T.Saengchantara, the Director General of DSS, Mr. Tawat Polquamdee, Secretary General of TISI, and Mr. Prayoon Shiowattana, Director of NIMT gave the special speech on “Accreditation: A Global Tool to Support Policy”, following by the debate on “Advantage of the accreditation for supporting public policy”. The debate was given by the experts from various fields including Police Major General Predee Pongsethasan, Deputy Commander In Chief, Office of Police Forensic Science, General Royal Thai Police, Mr. Kittipong Laonipon, Inspector General, Department of Labour Protection and Welfare, Ms. Ubonrat Soonthonrat, Professional Fishery Biologist, Department of Fisheries, Ms. Phanit Ratsuk, Director of Inspection and Enforcement Division, Pollution Control Department, and Ms. Chomdearn Satawoot, Managing Director of Thai Nondestructive Testing Public Company Limited. There were approximately 1,000 attendants in the morning session.
In the afternoon session, there were 4 presentations drawing interest from a lot of attendants. The presentations were as follows: “Trend in Accreditation of conformity assessment body of Agricultural Commodity and Food” of Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, “How to select PT provider to suit your purpose” of Ministry of Science and Technology, “Inspection of crime scene, firearms, and fingerprint according to ISO/IEC 17020” of Ministry of Industry, and “Accreditation of chemical laboratories for safety administration” of National Research Council of Thailand.