The role of Nordtest in testing and quality assurance

 This article describes on the idea behind Nordtest, the results of its activities and how Nordtest has influenced testing and quality assurance. By financing projects in the field of technical testing Nordtest has been able to utilise the best available Nordic knowledge and resources to respond to Nordic needs and has gained acceptance in all Nordic countries. During Nordtest's 25 years of operation its projects have resulted in over 500 test methods and over 350 technical reports that are widely used both within and outside the Nordic countries. Examples of some project results are given. Important issues in testing and quality assurance are expressed in Nordtest position papers. Nordtest's active participation in the European and global co-operation in testing and quality assurance is also described.     

The Hitchhiker's guide to quality assurance

A report is given on a 2-day symposium “The Hitchhikers Guide to Quality Assurance” held in Brisbane Australia, in 2005. More than 100 representatives of field laboratories attended this educational exercise organised by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.     

The increasing demands of quality assurance in chemical testing

The chemical and microbiological testing community is going through a rather difficult period of change. Publication of ISO/IEC 17025 (General requirements for the competence of Calibration and Testing Laboratories, 1999) [1] is placing additional demands on testing laboratories to ensure traceability and estimate uncertainty in their measurements. At the same time, laboratories must remain mindful of the need to provide relevant, timely and economic services to their clients. International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) and its accredited laboratories are currently focussing on establishing realistic methods for ensuring traceability to national and international standards and estimating measurement uncertainty. To this end, IANZ recognizes that it has an important role in providing as much advice and assistance as possible, not only to its accredited chemical laboratories but also to all those contemplating accreditation in New Zealand.

From quality inspection to quality assurance

Summary Systematic quality assurance, e.g. in accordance with the provisions of ISO 9000, requires not only the targeted use of quality as a management tool, but also a revised attitude to operational procedures. Although sophisticated checking of the final results of a procedure (e.g. results of analyses, sales products, reports) meets the legal requirements and often also the customers' requirements, this misses the chance of being able to influence the quality of a final result at the earliest possible stage. It is then only possible subsequently to take the uneconomic decision as to whether the result of the work is useable or must be discarded or the object reworked. Within quality assurance, all operations are to be considered as processes with the aim of arriving at a statistically controlled process. The advantages of statistical process control are explained by way of examples from analytical procedures and production. The status of internal audits is explained as it interrelates with process control.     

The role of an independent laboratory association in the standards,metrology, quality assurance and accreditation environment

Whilst there can be no doubt as to the benefit that an independent 3rd party conformity assessment accreditation body plays in ensuring the competency of results, personnel and processes, it is often at the expense of an adversarial relationship with the laboratory community it serves. A significant improvement in this relationship can be obtained by the formation and active participation by an independent laboratory association. This paper describes such an organisation, how it was formed, what role and the functions it currently performs and, most importantly, how it interacts with the national accreditation body and the stakeholders who are its members.     

Prototype international quality assurance program

The international community presently lacks the ability to determine the quality and credibility of environmental measurements that is required to make sound decisions in matters related to international security, public health, and investment-related considerations. The ultimate goal of the work described in this article is to develop a credible information base including measurement capability for determination of environmental contamination and the potential for proliferation of material components of chemical or nuclear weapons. This study compared the accuracy obtained by six Russian and six U.S. laboratories for samples representative of classes of trace metals, dioxin-furans, and radioactive substances. The results obtained in this work indicate that current estimates for laboratory accuracy are likely overly optimistic. The weaknesses discovered by this prototype U.S. — Russia, study also exist within the broader international community of laboratories. Further work is proposed to address the urgent need for the international community to improve performance evaluations for analytical measurements.     

External quality assurance programmes in medical laboratories

 Medical laboratories have a long tradition of external quality assessment. Starting from pure quality control of laboratory performances, most schemes have evolved to a powerful tool for improving quality of clinical outcome of results. External quality assurance in medical laboratories not only includes laboratory performance evaluation, but also evaluation of method performance, post-marked vigilance, training and help. In the future, the quality of programmes must further be improved by accreditation of schemes and by using electronic data interchange. Received: 9 December 2000 Accepted: 14 December 2000     

ISTA quality assurance programme – The proficiency test rating system

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