Ensure that you are getting what you paid for and to the expected standard.
I’ve grown accustomed to the blank look I get when asked what I do for work and I reply, “I work in Accreditation”.
Sometimes there’s a polite nod and a vague ‘oh that’s interesting’ and sometimes I’m asked flat out, “what does that mean?”
The United Kingdom Accreditation Services (UKAS) define accreditation as, “the formal recognition that an organisation is competent to perform specific processes, activities, or tasks … in a reliable credible and accurate manner.”
Essentially, accreditation is how the end user or customer is assured of the quality of the service or product through an assessment by an impartial, independent third party. It is used across industries and in all aspects of life.
I take great comfort in the fact that the gas man tinkering about in my kitchen has had to go through an independent, rigorous process that proves he knows what he is doing. I want to know that the hospital I end up when I fall off my bike has been assessed.
However more than that, I want to know that these professionals still have the requisite skills.
There’s no comfort to me of having an engineer, teacher, doctor etc who proved they had the skills and/or knowledge 10 years ago.
There is a great number of things I knew or could do 10 years ago that are but a distant memory today.
The value of accreditation comes from the continued recognition and assurance that surveillance and reassessments provide.
These ongoing measures ensure that any knowledge or skills evidenced by the accreditation process are maintained and uptodate. As technology now changes and updates so quickly, recognition of competence can made outdated a few years later by technology that, directly or indirectly, changes the game.
Surveillances ensure that the person or product continues to be fit for purpose within the present context.
The importance of third party validation when it comes to matters of safety such as gas or hospitals is evident and widely accepted but really, why wouldn’t you also value accreditation in a training provider?
You are paying for a service and you want to ensure that you are getting what you paid for and to the expected standard.
An APMG Accredited Training Organisation goes through a rigorous and ongoing process.
This ensures that the all aspects of the training course are delivered to high standards, aligned to International Standards.
Trainers are assessed to ensure they have not only a deep knowledge of the subject matter with personal experience and examples to bring the material to life; but the necessary skills to communicate with a class of delegates and answer their questions.
All materials used throughout the delivery of an APMG course have been assessed to ensure they reflect the course syllabus and are structured to enable learning.
Finally, the organisation itself has had its processes and procedures assessed to ensure they deliver exemplary training. This includes, but is not limited to, how they handle your data, how they select venues for their training courses, how they conduct examinations and how they handle complaints.
When thinking it about you’ll find a large number of examples of how accreditation is used. It goes beyond safety measures and vastly reduces the risk of getting a ‘bad’ service or product.
