About PJLA

Perry L. Johnson, a world leader in quality, established PJLA in 1999. PJLA offered its first accreditation during this time and continues to grow throughout the marketplace. PJLA is a third-party accreditation body that validates the competency of testing and calibration laboratories through the use of international and national standards.

As an accrediting body, PJLA is required to adhere to ISO/IEC 17011:2004 Conforming Assessment - General Requirements for Accreditation Bodies Accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies. PJLA’s adherence to this standard is demonstrated through peer evaluations performed by international recognition bodies. PJLA is a MRA Signatory of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and of the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) for both testing and calibration.

Offered Accreditations:

• ISO/IEC 17025:2005 - A general standard for Testing and Calibration Laboratories.
• DoD-ELAP Department of Defense Laboratory Accreditation Program - A standard based on NELAC, ISO/IEC 17025 and specific DoD requirements, utilized to assess environmental testing laboratories contracted with DoD components to perform specific environmental tests.

Program Specific Accreditation:

Many regulators and government agencies have recognized that ISO/IEC 17025 is a reliable standard to ensure that tests or calibrations are being performed accurately by competent laboratories. In this case, specific programs have been designed mandating third-party accreditation. PJLA has relationships with these regulators or government agencies to assist with ensuring laboratories adhere to their specific programs including:

• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Energy Star
• Navy Met-Cal
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Why choose Accreditation over Certification

Accreditation provides the marketplace confidence that your laboratory has a well-established quality management system producing reliable and competent test and calibration results. Although, certification (i.e. ISO 9001:2008) as a general ISO standard can promote ones commitment to quality, laboratory accreditation is designed specifically for testing and calibration laboratories to promote their commitment to producing reliable test or calibration results. Due to the increase of accreditation over the past few years, it is a necessity for laboratories to gain accreditation. This assists laboratories demonstrate the traceability of their test or calibration results throughout the marketplace. It may also reduce the amount of supplier or regulatory assessments required and provide laboratories a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

PJLA and our Related Bodies

The brand name Perry Johnson serves many different types of quality-based organizations. This includes a related body of PJLA, Perry Johnson Registrars, Inc. (PJR). PJR is a full-service certification body offering various quality system certification services. PJLA stemmed from PJR, due to the growing need of laboratory accreditation. PJLA and PJR are separate legal entities, offering separate services and adhere to separate standards (i.e ISO/IEC 17011:2004 versus ISO/IEC 17021:2006). Although we are separate organizations, PJLA and PJR continue to have a relationship that shares resources including assessment staff. This allows for clientele to utilize similar assessors and to eliminate excessive travel expenses. At no such time does PJLA or PJR reduce assessment time or perform less comprehensive assessments because of this relationship.