ARLINGTON, Va. - North American Technician Excellence (NATE) is taking the necessary steps towards becoming an American National Standards Institute- (ANSI) accredited organization.

ANSI provides a neutral forum for the development of policies on standards issues and serves as a watchdog for standards development and conformity assessment. The ANSI Federation also accredits qualified organizations, whose standards development process meets all of ANSI’s requirements, to develop American National Standards.

Achieving ANSI accreditation is a lengthy process that requires an extensive amount of time spent reviewing all practices and processes currently in place. ANSI’s first independent audit of NATE was held in April. Based on this initial audit, NATE is implementing changes to ensure that all testing organizations throughout the country are following NATE protocol and upholding the integrity of certification, which ultimately protects technicians and results in a consistent, quality testing experience.

“There are countless reasons why NATE is already the leading certification body for the HVACR industry, and achieving ANSI accreditation will further solidify this position,” stated Peter Schwartz, NATE president and CEO. “ANSI accreditation is designed to increase the integrity, confidence, and mobility of certified professionals, which will add an even greater value and esteem to NATE certification. This process will ultimately verify that NATE meets the highest professional standards of examination development, ensuring unrivaled program excellence in the HVACR certification arena.”

As NATE continues down the path towards achieving the accreditation, additional changes and improvements are expected to be implemented to further strengthen the organization’s practices, said NATE.

For more information, visit www.natex.org.

Publication date: 07/04/2011