BECOME A TECHNICAL ASSESSOR/TECHNICAL EXPERT

DANAK accredits companies for a wide range of competences why experts are needed to assist assessment of companies.

In the laboratory area experts are entitled technical assessors, while entitled "technical experts" for inspection and certification.

A technical assessor or technical expert is an expert within a technical aspect of an accreditation area and assess along with a lead assessor from DANAK, if a company meets the applicable requirements in connection with accreditation.

A technical assessor or technical expert can come from both the public and private sector - but regardless of background, the professional level is very high.

Usually a technical assessor or technical expert enters into a 5-year contract with DANAK and are associated with one or more accreditations during this period.

If the contract is renewed for a new 5-year period, a technical assessor/expert are often assigned to new accreditations, as DANAK wants to ensure impartiality.

HOW TO BECOME A TECHNICAL ASSESSOR OR TECHNICAL EXPERT?

First of all, it requires the expertise needed to assess the company's competences. Professionalism can be based on both practical and theoretical experience.

In addition, it is important to be able to act in a neutral and friendly manner, so that company employees can have confidence in one's work. At the same time acting as a technical assessor or technical expert you are also a representative of DANAK.

Another important issue is that in general you have to be able to understand spoken and written Danish, and be able to communicate in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish or English. Only for very specialized technical areas we use technical experts/assessors who do not fulfill the mentioned language requirements.

To become a technical assessor, one must attend a 3-day course in the relevant accreditation standard. The course enables the technical assessor to work with the assessment team, which consists of one or more technical assessors and a lead assessor.

You do not have to attend a course to become a technical expert. The technical expert participates in the DANAK evaluation team along with a lead assessor and will therefore not make an independent assessment. You get instruction in the function as technical expert and, in some cases, specific training in parts of the accreditation standard.

WHAT ARE THE FUNCTIONS OF A TECHNICAL ASSESSOR OR TECHNICAL EXPERT IN ASSESSMENT?

In the laboratory area the technical assessors independently carry out evaluation of the technical requirements. That can be staff competencies, laboratory design, analysis work, quality assurance of results etc.

In the field of inspection and certification the technical expert will normally assist the lead auditor when reviewing cases and on field visits, where the practical execution of inspections and certifications is assessed.

There will often be a need for some hours of preparation, typically 4-8 hours, to review the procedures which DANAK has received from the company.

The visit at the company starts with an introductory meeting, where the program of the day is determined. Then you go to work on the assessment.

After the assessment the lead assessor and technical assessors or technical experts hold a meeting to discuss any non-conformities and the evaluation team's recommendations to decide whether the company can be accredited or maintain an existing accreditation.

The day is concluded in a meeting with the company, where non-conformities and the evaluation team's conclusions shall be communicated.

After the accreditation visit, the technical assessor or the technical expert shall prepare the technical annex to the assessment report, which must be included in the comprehensive report from the accreditation visit. Usually 4 hours are allocated to a report annex.

When the company has given the lead assessor responses on the non-conformities found at the visit, the lead assessor will contact technical assessor/technical expert in order to get any corrective actions from the company assessed. Here, it is expected that technical assessor and technical expert can respond quickly in the interests of all parties.

WHY IS THE USE OF A TECHNICAL ASSESSOR AND TECHNICAL EXPERT GOOD FOR BUSINESSES?

DANAKs use of technical experts ensures that a company will be assessed by highly qualified people that make the assessment more valid and the accreditation process more professional.

The 5-year contracts ensure companies in relation to the privacy requirements of the Danish law ("forvaltningsloven").

A company applying for accreditation, of course, has the opportunity to raise objections to DANAKs choice of technical assessor or technical expert.

STILL INTERESTED?

If you have skills or competencies that you believe can be of use to DANAK, and have the desire to work as a technical assessor or technical expert, please feel free to contact one of DANAKs Heads of sections or coordinator Tina Henriette Jensen tij@danak.dk.

Read the folder about the job as technical assessor (TA) here (Danish pdf).