Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 19, September 20, 2024
A.
Application and Criteria. A testing facility shall apply to the Department to
be designated an approved testing facility. The application shall be verified
and shall contain information enabling the Department to determine whether the
applicant is specially qualified by reason of facilities, personnel,
experience, and demonstrated reliability to investigate, test, and evaluate
industrialized building units for compliance with these regulations, and to
provide adequate follow-up and quality assurance services at the point of
manufacture. This information shall include:
(1) Names of officers and location of
offices;
(2) Specification and
description of services proposed to be furnished under these
regulations;
(3) Description of
qualifications of personnel and their responsibilities;
(4) Summary of organization
experience;
(5) General description
of procedures and facilities to be used in proposed services, including
evaluation of the model unit, factory follow-up, quality assurance, labeling of
production units, and specific information to be furnished on or with
labels;
(6) How defective units
resulting from oversight are to be dealt with;
(7) Acceptance of these services by
independent accrediting organizations and by other jurisdictions;
(8) Proof of independence and absence of
conflict of interest;
(9)
Compliance with federal and State requirements concerning equal employment
opportunities.
B. Fees.
Fees for approval and annual renewal are stated in Regulation .12.
C. Independence and Absence of Conflicts. An
approved testing facility may not be affiliated with or influenced or
controlled by producers, suppliers, or vendors of products in any manner which
might affect its capacity to render reports of findings objectively without
bias. An approved testing facility is judged to be free of affiliation,
influence and control if it complies with all of the following:
(1) Has no managerial affiliation with
producers, suppliers, or vendors and is not engaged in the sale or promotion of
any product or material;
(2) The
results of its work accrue no financial benefit to the agency via stock
ownership, and the like, of any producers, supplier, or vendors of the products
involved;
(3) Its directors and
other management personnel, in those capacities, receive no stock option, or
other financial benefits from any producer, supplier, or vendor of the product
involved;
(4) Has sufficient
breadth of interest or activity that the loss or award of a specific contract
to determine compliance of a producer's, supplier's, or vendor's product with
these regulations would not be a determinative factor in its financial
well-being;
(5) The employment
security status of its personnel is free of influence or control of producers,
suppliers, or vendors.
