KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC) will join the rest of the world in observing World Accreditation Day on Friday, June 9.

The day will be celebrated under the theme ‘Accreditation – Delivering confidence in Construction and the Built Environment’.

Speaking at a JIS ‘Think Tank’, yesterday, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at JANAAC, Sharonmae Shirley, said the week of celebration will begin on today with a church service at the Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist Church, in Kingston, beginning at 8:00 am.

She said the week’s observance seeks to heighten awareness of the role accreditation plays in ensuring safety of buildings, quality of the materials and the engineering skill set in Jamaica.

On Sunday, June 4, a supplement will be published in the Jamaica Observer highlighting various achievements of the agency.

JANAAC, in partnership with the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ), will launch the Block Makers Association at the HEART Trust/NTA in Mandeville, on Tuesday, June 6. This will be followed by JANAAC Assessors conclave at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel on Wednesday, June 7, beginning at 8:30 am.

This technical forum will focus on the importance of JANAAC in ensuring that the building standards are met and kept, based on international requirements, to ensure that the integrity of the construction sector and its challenges, as they relate to the quality of construction materials, the design and the issues associated with the built environment, are addressed.

The week culminates on Friday, June 9, with the CEO Breakfast at the Terra Nova hotel, where a number of the key players in the construction industry will meet.

Shirley pointed out that the JANAAC week of celebrations will bring together several participants from the Incorporated Masterbuilders Association, University of Technology, Jamaica Institution of Engineers, Environmental Health Unit and other groups in the sector. “We are looking forward to an exciting week of activities, and we are looking forward to the change that will result from the events and the focus that we are putting on the construction sector and the built environment,” the CEO said.

She pointed out that this year’s theme is timely, as “globally all countries are paying attention to this (accreditation in the built environment), and particularly in Jamaica, based on our geography, it is just as important for us to do so”.

“We recognise that JANAAC can provide the layer of confidence that the sector needs to ensure that the users and consumers, our regulatory authority, have the confidence in the end product that is generated from our construction industry,” the CEO said.