Quality mark for certified maintenance in the healthcare sector

FHI Medical Technology has taken the initiative to develop the GOZ quality mark. It is not easy for healthcare institutions to demonstrate that technical maintenance is carried out in accordance with all requirements. In addition, it is difficult for them to assess whether external companies and technicians engaged are actually authorised and competent and also work in accordance with the correct procedures.

The GOZ quality mark aims to guarantee the quality of service and maintenance at sector level and to provide healthcare institutions with an important tool that demonstrably provides certainty about the quality of the hired service organization.

In recent years, a proliferation of maintenance companies has emerged. When offering and performing technical maintenance, there are frequent deviations from the maintenance protocols as laid down in the Medical Device Directive (or the Medical Device Regulation). In addition to legal liability, this can entail safety risks for patients and users.

The GOZ quality mark sets clear requirements for both the organisation that carries out preventive and/or corrective maintenance work on medical equipment on behalf of the healthcare institution, as well as for the knowledge and skills of the individual technicians who carry out the maintenance.

To qualify for the FHI quality mark, the organization must meet the requirements of the GOZ certification scheme. The training plan specifies when and for which category and/or type of products and, if necessary, to which level, the Service Technician is authorized and qualified to perform service and maintenance activities. Testing is carried out by an external certification body.

If the organization and technicians meet the GOZ requirements, GOZ passes can be requested for technicians. The pass is equipped with an NFC chip. This chip can easily be provided with information about the technician's competencies and authorizations via a mobile phone. This information can then be easily read out again in the hospital with almost any smartphone.

All information about this project can be found on the website www.keurmerkgoz.nl