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IMPORTANCE OF LAB ACCREDITATION

Just think of a scenario! An exporter in a third world country receives an order of 5 to 6 containers of a certain item from USA. The item is manufactured according to the specifications and dispatched to USA after having been tested in a laboratory before dispatch. The foreign importer would like to get it tested through an accredited laboratory to save time, cost and effort but the exporter doesn’t have any idea as to what an accredited laboratory was! The result was that the item is rejected once it lands in the USA and tested through an accredited laboratory.

Now, the real mental agony of the exporter starts and the importer starts cursing his stars as to why he placed such an order on an exporter who didn’t have any idea of getting a product tested in an accredited lab. Ultimately, the containers with the unwanted item are stranded at the shores of the USA with no other option but to be returned to exporting country. If the exporter doesn’t take his containers back, they would be auctioned at the throw-away price by the authorities in the USA.
If the exporter was conversant about the accreditation of laboratories and the vital role it plays in export business, this colossal loss would have been averted.

The success of the accreditation program mainly depends on how successfully it is implemented and that depends upon the seriousness of the management i.e. how much committed the top management is! The whole process to prepare a lab for accreditation takes a period of six months.

Whenever, we fall ill, we go to a doctor who suggests that we should get various tests done like blood test, sugar test, etc before he forms any opinion about our illness. For conducting these tests, it’s our endeavor to visit the best laboratory in the area. Best laboratories are those laboratories which are accredited according to the requirements of the international standard for the laboratories i.e. ISO 17025. Such laboratories are in thousands in the developed countries whereas they can be counted on fingers in the third world.

Now, the question arises as to what an accredited laboratory is? An accredited laboratory is that laboratory whose test results are authentic and acknowledged throughout the world. The test results produced by an accredited lab would be the same whether the item is tested in the USA or Russia, or England or even a third world country.

Similarly, if we are an exporter, we would like our item to be tested from an accredited laboratory before despatching it to the importing country. We ensure that the product we’re despatching has been tested in an accredited laboratory in our own country so as to avoid complications at a later stage.

When we say that a laboratory is accredited, it means that it is fulfilling the requirements of the international standard for laboratories i.e. ISO 17025. These requirements are 25 in number; out of which, 15 pertain to management and 10 belong to the technical side.

The management requirements are: 1. Organization 2. Management system 3. Document control 4. Review of requests, tenders and contracts 5. Subcontracting of tests and calibrations 6. Purchasing services and supplies 7. Service to the customer 8. Complaints 9. Control of non-conforming testing and/or calibration work 10. Improvement 11. Corrective action 12. Preventive action 13. Control of records 14. Internal audits 15. Management reviews. 

The requirements pertaining to the technical side are: 1. General 2. Personnel 3. Accommodation and environmental conditions 4. Test & calibration methods and method validation 5. Equipment 6. Measurement traceability 7. Sampling 8. Handling of test and calibration items 9. Assuring the quality of test & calibration results 10. Reporting the results. 

Compliance with these requirements is not a formidable task. Any laboratory may be it is chemical or environmental or dealing in drugs testing, etc, can get accreditation. Only the personnel in the laboratory have to work hard for a period of 3 to 6 months and the management has to be committed towards this end.

The same is the case with the quality of products. Many countries in the world are losing a hefty amount annually due to the bad quality of their products. Just imagine the wastage being incurred in the third world countries due to the bad quality of their products. It’s phenomenal! This is evident from the fact that in developed countries, the rejection rate in the production of components is 2 per thousand whereas in third world countries, it’s 200 per thousand. In most of the Japanese TV manufacturing companies, the rejection rate is one per ten thousand!

If we want to compete in the world market and boost our exports, it’s worthwhile that the issue of accreditation of labs gets due recognition and the business community is made aware of its importance. To a layman, the following example will amply clarify the concept about lab accreditation.

Comparison with ISO 9001

A question is generally asked: If a laboratory wants to get accredited as per the requirements of ISO 17025, will it also have to get ISO 9001 certification? The answer is a big NO! It may be mentioned that ISO 9001covers only management requirements whereas ISO 17025 covers both the management and technical requirements. Hence, if a lab is certified to ISO 17025, it needn’t be certified to ISO 9001:2000 as management requirements are already included in ISO 17025. The owners or CEOs of the laboratories have to guard against this aspect.

Benefits

By implementing ISO 17025 in a lab, the following benefits would accrue:-

·         The processes of the lab would be streamlined.

·         As all the systems would be streamlined, customer complaints would be reduced to a bare minimum and efficiency would increase.

·         The responsibilities and authorities of the personnel in the lab will be clearly defined and allocated.

·         The staff working in the lab would be properly trained and become competent in their jobs.

·         An organized internal audit program will eliminate all the bugs in the working of the lab.

·         The lab would be using validated methods.

·         As proper sampling would be in vogue, there would be no need to carry out repeated sampling which will save time, money and efforts.

·         By carrying out proficiency testing, the clients will have more confidence in the results of the lab. 

Conclusion

Accreditation of the laboratories is an inescapable requirement these days. It is a must for the authenticity of their results. By using the services of an accredited lab, there would be no need left for a client to test the item again in his own country. If a lab is accredited, it means that it would be using calibrated equipment; its methods would be validated and the quality of its tests and calibrations would be maintained. The results would be accurately reported as per authorized format and would be authentic. Regular annual assessments would keep the lab on track and its efficiency wouldn’t go down. Last but not the least: the lab would join the elite group of the laboratories of the world which have been accredited to this proven system!  

AZFAR A KHAN
21, St 5, Rawalpindi,

Pakistan.

Tel: +92-51-4470026; +92-300-5122864

Words: 2010

Mr. Azfar A Khan is a consultant in Quality and Laboratory Management Systems. He has provided consultancy to various public and private sector companies and laboratories. He conducts short courses in ISO 17025, IISO 9001, SO 14001, OHSAS 18001, SA 8000 and Internal Auditing. For more information, kindly contact: azfar44 at hotmail.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How Can Laboratory Accreditation Boost Exports?