Even 2020, despite the economic difficulties of companies due to the pandemic emergency, recorded the growth of accredited bodies and laboratories, reaching 1,975, an increase of 6% compared to the previous year and 64% in ten years.
Of these, 1,272 are testing laboratories (+ 1.8%), 501 certification, inspection and verification bodies (+ 20%) and 202 calibration laboratories (+ 3.6%), reflecting the fact that the growth of skills was spread and involved all three Departments of Accredia.
An increase in activities also confirmed by the number of assessment days delivered by the 456 Accredia assessors and 101 technical experts – which reached 16,800, up by over 300 days compared to 2019 and by about 90% in the last decade.
The most consistent growth in accreditations was for inspection bodies (54% on 2019), especially in the field of electrical system controls, followed by that of medical analysis laboratories (14%) and accreditations for the certification of environmental product declarations (14%), for information security management systems (13%) and for the verification of greenhouse gas emissions (10%).
In 2020, the companies certified for their management system exceeded 147 thousand, with the usual prevalence of certifications for quality management systems in accordance with ISO 9001, which alone represent 64% of the total certifications, followed by those for ISO 14001 environmental management systems and ISO 45001 occupational health and safety systems. The breakdown by sector confirms the clear predominance of construction, with over 25 thousand certifications, influenced by the fact that having an accredited ISO 9001 certification is the requirement to participate in public tenders.