THE laboratory conference will take place on the second day and is being organised by the British Measurement and Testing Association (BMTA) which represents the interests of more than 400 UKAS accredited laboratories.
Entitled Advances in Measurements in Environmental Laboratories, it will have speakers from UKAS, FERA, water companies and commercial laboratories.
BMTA director Peter Russell said: “The subject matter has been designed primarily for managers and senior staff in environmental laboratories, but the techniques and quality procedures discussed will be of interest to staff in all types of laboratory. The presentations will deal with the methods of achieving quality and consistency in both sampling and measurement, and I hope that the 2012 event will be as popular as its predecessor.”
Accreditation by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the key to ensuring that consumers, suppliers, purchasers and specifiers can have confidence in the quality of the services that laboratories provide and Jon Murthy will provide an overview of UKAS accreditation, setting out its value to those with accreditation; to customers using accredited services and to the UK economy as a whole.
David Galsworthy from the Food and Environment Research Agency will give a presentation on a new software application that provides laboratories with statistical analysis of analytical quality control samples, leading to better monitoring of instrument and analytical performance, thereby improving the charting, reporting and auditing of AQC samples to meet DWI, UKAS and other regulatory requirements. Kim Holt and Phil Goddard have employed the software at South West Water and will explain how the key challenges have been overcome. Topics will include lifecycle testing/validation of software and validation of laboratories, test methods and laboratory software.
Mark Handcock, from Thames Water, will also tackle the issue of quality in the laboratory and Hazel Davidson will explain why an emphasis on laboratory analysis and quality control can be irrelevant if the sampling is not performed correctly. Professor. Clive Thompson will discuss the various ISO and CEN cyanide methods and provide guidance on how to carry out ‘fit for purpose’ analysis of various forms of cyanide in environmental samples.
