Construction Business Review

SIRIM QAS International
Providing the Must-Have Seal of Approval

Azmi Bin Musa, General Manager, SIRIM QAS InternationalAzmi Bin Musa, General Manager
The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) in Malaysia oversees the quality and uniformity of every material or product used in buildings throughout the country. Act 520, a law enforced by the authority, stipulates that construction projects must adhere to the standards set by the CIDB. Moreover, contractors and other project-concerned personnel are required to register with the board, ensuring to use products that are nationally and internationally compliant. At this juncture, how does the CIDB determine the quality of materials and deem them fit for use? The answer can be found in SIRIM QAS Internationals’ comprehensive testing, inspection, and certification (TIC) services, which have been garnered to perfection over the course of 26 long years.

We support the government, helping them carry out the implementation of the CIDB’s compliance standards for the construction industry

SIRIM QAS International is a Malaysia-based conformity assessment service provider that has evolved alongside the nation’s regulatory expectations of the construction market. It is interesting to note that the CIDB maintains no testing facilities of its own. Such a scenario places an extremely weighty responsibility on the hands of any safety and compliance service provider. SIRIM QAS International, on the other hand, did not shy away from offering its domain expertise to support the Malaysian government. To that end, the company empowers clients with a slew of certification solutions, including a globally-recognized management system. Companies collaborating with SIRIM QAS International additionally gain the benefits of being guided by its highly qualified and experienced staff.
No brick is laid without the authoritative stamp of the enterprise’s approval. Its accreditation by the Department of Standards Malaysia additionally solidifies the trust that construction professionals can place in the company’s solutions and services proffered by the company. The Suruhanjaya Perkhidmatan Air Negara (SPAN) currently employs SIRIM’s compliance expertise in the areas of water, sewage, and sanitation infrastructure as well.

Further delving into the public space, the company also assists the government in implementing regulations around fire safety that conform to the Uniform Building By-Laws (UBBL). When the fire and rescue department, for instance, wishes to screen and approve products, they leverage SIRIM QAS Internationals’ testing and certification services as a prerequisite. The construction compliance expert helps construction professionals with its Product Certification Scheme in accordance with ISO 17065, also called ‘type five’ that is designed to certify hundreds of products. The service empowers clients to manage their factory audits and testing processes seamlessly, allowing for unimpeded and consistently high-quality product delivery. SIRIM QAS International goes the extra mile by carrying out robust market surveillance activities in order to ensure they are updated on the latest trends and the ever-changing regulatory requirements.

  • SIRIM QAS International supervises the quality control of each product leaving the shop floor and helps achieve 100 percent compliance, even from an international perspective


The company recently began supporting its clients with its industrialized building system (IBS), Impact Certification. In many parts of Malaysia and the world at large, the labor-intensive task of manually building a wall—block-by-block—is being replaced by finished components manufactured directly at the factory. These materials are then transported to, and assembled on, the construction site. SIRIM QAS International supervises the quality control of each product leaving the shop floor and helps achieve 100 percent compliance, even from an international perspective.

With such an expansive portfolio of services, SIRIM QAS International stands to benefit governments beyond the Malaysian borders as it currently manages several of its own testing, cutting-edge facilities. It possesses three operational furnaces, with a fourth expected to be opened in June, providing the perfect avenue for large-scale fire safety testing alongside solving ducting and other structural issues in case of emergencies. Moving forward, the company intends to expand its geographical footprint to other parts of Asia, starting with Singapore. SIRIM QAS International is particularly keen on penetrating the Indonesian marketplace to deliver its highly effective and experience-packed TIC solutions and services.