ARLINGTON, VA. – North American Technician Excellence (NATE) is pleased to announce that it has officially been recognized as an ANSI-accredited certification body. ANSI, which stands for the American National Standards Institute, has served as the coordinator of the U.S. private sector, voluntary standardization system for more than 90 years.
In early 2011, NATE formally applied for ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation, which involved a review of all practices and processes in place. Based on the 17024 requirements, NATE implemented a wide range of updates and enhancements to strengthen its processes and ensure that the integrity of NATE certification is upheld at all levels. Patrick Murphy, Vice President of Certifications, spearheaded the application for ANSI accreditation and led the NATE team in their efforts toward achieving this goal.
On December 13, 2011, the ANSI Personnel Certification Accreditation Committee (PCAC) met to review NATE’s assessment report. Upon their review, PCAC granted NATE ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 accreditation as a qualified Certification Body.
“The entire NATE family has spent countless hours working towards this accomplishment, and we could not be more proud that NATE has achieved ANSI accreditation,” stated Peter Schwartz, NATE President and CEO. “ANSI accreditation validates NATE’s ongoing commitment to meeting the highest professional standards of examination development, further establishing NATE as an unrivaled certification body in the HVAC/R certification arena.”
Don Frendberg, Chairman of the NATE Board of Trustees, said, “NATE is the only certification organization developed and supported by the entire HVAC/R industry, and this impressive achievement exemplifies why NATE is the true leader in certifying technician excellence.”
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. Through these efforts, ANSI aims to enhance the competitiveness of U.S. businesses, while helping to assure the safety and health of consumers and the protection of the environment.
For more information about ANSI, visit www.ansi.org.
Headquartered in Arlington, Va., NATE was founded in 1997 as the nation’s largest non-profit certification organization for heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration technicians. NATE tests technicians while others train. Testing validates the technician’s knowledge and a training program’s instruction. NATE-approved testing organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada offer NATE tests. Candidates can earn installation and/or service certification in nine specialty areas: air-conditioning, air distribution, heat pumps, gas heating, oil heating, hydronic gas, hydronic oil, and commercial, light commercial refrigeration and senior efficiency analyst. NATE also offers the International Ground Source Heat Pump test. For more information about NATE, visit www.natex.org.
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