You hit the nail on the head. There appears to be some that want the accreditation but do not want to use 17020. They want a separate standard for fire investigators. Of course, they want it to be an NFPA standard. From what I see many law enforcement organization have been accredited under this standard for their crime scene investigation activities. If that is the case, I am hard pressed to understand why investigating a fire needs its own stand-alone standard.

The effort seems to be coming from the Fire and Explosion subcommittee of the Organization of Scientific Areas Committees for Forensic Sciences (OSAC). The subcommittee took the position that ISO 17020 does not applicable to forensic science. It is the OSAC that has adopted 17020 as the proper standard. One of the subcommittee's arguments was that the standard talks about inspections and not investigations. I think those on the subcommittee are using a pay on word when it comes to "inspection" and "investigation".

To me there seems to be an agenda here on behalf of those wanting the NFPA document over the ISO standard. After reviewing the ISO 17020 I see no reason for NFPA to have a separate standard just because this is a fire investigation over any other ty of investigation.

Jim Mazerat
Forensic Investigations Group