We are proud of our reputation for providing a high quality service. This reputation that has been built over decades.
It arises from the expertise of our staff, the robustness of our systems, and our strength of commitment to providing customers with the very highest quality of analysis and customer service.
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What is accreditation?
Accreditation is a formal, third party recognition of competence. For laboratories worldwide, this means compliance to the international standard - ISO 17025.
Accreditation not certification
ISO 17025 contains specific technical requirements for the personnel employed and for the operations carried out. We are directly assessed by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to confirm demonstration of:
- Competence
- Impartiality
- Consistent Operation of laboratories
We also hold higher-level accreditation to both the DWI’s Drinking Water Testing Specification (DWTS) and the Environment Agency’s MCERTS schemes, which have additional technical requirements.
We currently have around 100 accredited analytical methods and over 500 accredited tests. We continually review and update our systems through continuous improvement and by extensively benchmarking our activities.
Our Accreditation Team
We have an internal team of five independent auditors whose sole remit is to monitor our compliance with accreditation standards. This team conduct over 250 audits per year, covering all aspects of the ISO 17025 quality system.
Proficiency Testing
Proficiency testing schemes are inter-laboratory comparison programs that allows us to monitor and improve the quality of our measurements. They provide an objective assessment of the reliability of data that we produce. We invest over 60 K each year to participate in numerous external schemes, including:
- Food and Environmental Research Agency (FERA)
LEAP - Waters - Crypto and chemistry
- UK Health Security Agency
EQA - Waters - Microbiology
- LGC proficiency testing group
Aquacheck - Waters and effluents chemistry. Taste and odour
Crypts - Regulatory Crypto
QWAS - Surface waters/waste waters/bathing
- LabService Analytica
InterCIND - Dioxins - WHO PCBs
- Charles Rivers Laboratories
LAL PTP - Waters - Endotoxin
- Dwr Cymru Welsh Water
Algae
- Cara Technology
AROXA - Taste and odour