Part 1 of this article, published in the April 2013 IAS eNews, discussed how building departments are looking to the IAS Special Inspection Agency (SIA) Accreditation Program to assist with their enforcement of Chapter 17 of the International Building Code. Specifically, building departments are using the program to approve SIAs doing inspections of critical building elements such as concrete, soils, and post-installed concrete anchors. Given the expertise and attention to detail required of SIAs, it is important they operate under a recognized quality management system (QMS). IAS accreditation is based on the assessment of a SIA's inspection procedures, the competence of its inspection staff, and its reporting procedures. The first article provided a brief overview of the IAS requirements for SIAs and how they need to provide evidence that their QMS is compliant with the IAS Accreditation Criteria AC291. After all, the QMS is the "roadmap" that explains what the SIA should be doing. Once IAS has determined that the SIA has all of the required components in their QMS, the next step is to verify if the SIA is effectively implementing their system. This article will provide a summary of IAS' onsite assessments of SIAs focusing on how IAS determines competence of the agencies.

Based on a review and approval of the SIA's QMS manual, IAS schedules the onsite assessment. The assessment occurs at the SIA's headquarters and in the field in order to observe a sampling of the SIA inspector's competence in conducting inspections. During the visit to the headquarters, IAS assessors interview SIA staff and review documents and records to determine whether the QMS has been effectively implemented. The field observations at construction sites are conducted by one or more IAS technical assessors or subject matter experts to evaluate the SIA's technical competence. During the complete assessment, the team observes inspections in progress and reviews reports, the handling of samples, equipment used for performing special inspection in the field, how the SIA subcontracts and how they handle complaints. A complete list of areas covered during the assessment is provided in the IAS Accreditation Criteria for Special Inspection Agencies AC291.

At the end of the onsite assessment, the IAS assessors provide the SIA management with an assessment report that may require corrective actions to be resolved before accreditation is granted. Accreditation is granted only after the SIA has satisfactorily documented and implemented all corrective actions. Accreditation is initially granted for one year and is renewable annually.

Continual evaluation of the SIA's QMS is done through periodic onsite assessments and feedback from regulators. For more information about the IAS Special Inspection Agency Accreditation Program, click here.