develop consensus standards for use by TNI's programs. This group has a support role in assisting other programs with activities such as guidance and standards interpretation.
fosters the generation of data of known and documented quality is through the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, or NELAP. The purpose of this program is to establish and implement a program for the accreditation of environmental laboratories.
is to establish and maintain a national PT program to support TNI’s National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, and other activities.
Field Activities Program (NEFAP) Executive Committee is to establish and implement an accreditation program for field sampling and measurement organizations (FSMOs).
on a variety of topics of interest to the environmental measurement community. TNI also hosts two regularly scheduled meetings per year, typically in January and August. Both are a week long and involve open meetings of TNI committees as well as training courses and other special sessions.Standard Interpretation
Standard: 2003 NELAC
Section: 5.5.10
Link to relevant standard
REQUEST:
X's question for TNI concerns the documentation of the laboratory's scope of accreditation in the test report. In this situation, our laboratory is licensed for a small number of tests in the State of Minnesota, which is adopting the NELAC Standard. Our laboratory is licensed for a full scope of parameters in the State of Arizona, a non-NELAC state. In Section 5.5.10 of the 2003 NELAC Standard, is there a requirement for qualifying data that is not included in the laboratory's scope of accreditation?
If there is a requirement (either directly or implied), how should the laboratory indicate the lack of NELAC licensure on the Arizona-only parameters in order to comply with the NELAC Standard? Is it sufficient to include a disclaimer on the cover page of the reports for Arizona-only work that indicates the data may only be used for compliance purposes in the State of Arizona and not in NELAC states
TNI FINAL RESPONSE:
Based on the standards quoted above, if the laboratory is issuing a NELAC-compliant report and the report has results that are not accredited under NELAC, you must identify those methods that do not meet the NELAC requirements (i.e., methods certified by another accrediting body).
The committee cannot comment on reports that are issued for Arizona compliance purposes.