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NELAP Assessor Training Courses

Basic Assessor Training

August 22-24, 2016
Austin, Texas

Course Description:

This course provides examples and a basic understanding of the assessment processes, within the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP) framework. The basic principles for assessing environmental laboratories are presented. A summary of the 2009 TNI Environmental Laboratory standards and practical examples for implementation of assessment techniques are an integral portion of this training course.

The rationale for assessing must be based on proven quality principals that allow the determination of adherence to the defined system.  The system standards used during this course are the TNI Environmental Laboratory standard, and the ISO/IEC 17025 “General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories” standard. Conducting an assessment of a laboratory system using quality principles and techniques allows personnel with a basic science background to assess operations and assure conformance to the stated management system.

The course presents the fundamentals of how to assess laboratories. These fundamentals include:

  • Understanding the difference between assessments, audits, registration and accreditation
  • Effective auditing tips and techniques
  • How to: write findings; prepare and present the assessment report and evaluate findings from laboratories
  • Evaluating laboratory corrective action programs and customer notification requirements.
The course also will provide personnel with guidance on assessing quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) requirements to acquire technically and legally defensible environmental data from laboratory operations. The list of references provided in the course materials will further your understanding and provide specific information.

Click here for a PDF containing more information about the course agenda, course notes, what to bring to class, information about the venue, and certificates and CEUs.

Intended Audience:

  • Quality Assurance Personnel
  • Laboratory Assessors

Cost:

$650 per person for government officials
$850 per person for all others
$100 discount for those that have copies of the TNI standards

Prerequisite: Students must read the 2009 TNI EL Standard before coming to class. A pretest will be given at the start of class to ensure the students familiarity with these standards.

 


Format:
Seminar

Start Date:
Monday 22nd August 2016, 8:00am

Length:
3 days

Presented By:

Steve Arms and Catherine Katsikis

About the Presenter:
Steve Arms
Until his retirement earlier this year, Steve worked as the administrator of the Florida Environmental Laboratory Certification Program (ELCP). Active in the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) meetings since 1997, he served on the NELAP Accrediting Authority Committee and was chairperson of the NELAC Standards Review Committee. Also active in INELA, he was a member of the Accreditation Body and Implementation Support Committees as well as the Board of Directors. He participated on the Partnership Planning Team and Transition Board and is now Past Chair of the TNI Board of Directors, a member of the NELAP Accreditation Council and chair of the TNI Advocacy Committee. Mr. Arms has a BS degree in Chemistry from the University of Florida. Mr. Arms now works for Laboratory Data Consultants, Florida.

Catherine Katsikis
Ms. Katsikis is a senior scientist with Laboratory Data Consultants Florida. She has been actively participating in the environmental industry for 26 years with particular emphasis on Management and QA practices. Ms. Katsikis holds a Chemistry degree with an emphasis on Laboratory Supervision from Teachers Training Institute, Athens Greece. She also holds multiple certifications including, Quality Management in the Lab from Clemson University and Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) from The Center for Professional Advancement. She currently conducts internal laboratory/field audits, third party data validation, training classes on Ethics/Data Integrity, Quality Assurance practices for the lab and field, Data validation, Document Control, FL ADaPT.



The NELAC Institute
P.O. Box 2439
Weatherford, TX 76086
Tel. 817.598.1624
Fax. 817.904.4370

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