Auditor Services

Effective laboratory quality management must include proper facility design; appropriate equipment; documented procedures based upon technically correct protocols; training; proficiency testing of personnel and fitness-for-use testing of equipment; audit; and effective root cause investigation and corrective action.

When registration or certification is an issue, effective, well-documented QA is a critical element in the audit process.

LQSi services have been designed to be an integral part of laboratory QA, not an adjunct to it. You can be confident that the procedures LQSi follows in providing these services will meet the requirements of any audit process.

LQSi offers services that can assist an auditor test the capabilities of laboratories, equipment, or personnel.

• LQSi can provide the auditor with RMs to take on-site for auditable results tested in the presence of the auditor
• LQSi can provide the auditor and / or the laboratory(ies) being audited with blind PTP samples, which will be sent “blind” to the labs of interest.
• LQSi can advise the auditor on other methods for determining laboratory capability and analyst proficiency; write us.

Regarding PTPs, whichever international, national, or industry quality management standard applies, LQSi meets your needs.

LQSi minerals proficiency testing programs (PTPs) meet stringent homogeneity and statistical requirements.

LQSi Minerals PTPs were established to help laboratories meet the ever-increasing demands of laboratory quality management systems defined by international, national, and industry standards-development bodies (such as ISO, ASTM, ANSI / ASQ, and automotive and steel-making organizations).

Benchmarking for Continuous Improvement in Laboratory Performance
The standards developed by these organizations state, amongst other things, that laboratories should do the following:

• Establish quality control samples to be used to evaluate the precision and bias of the laboratory’s analytical methods.
• Participate regularly in proficiency testing and other laboratory comparisons.
• Maintain records of interlaboratory test results and actions taken in response to the results of participating in such proficiency test programs.
• Develop evidence of repeatability and reproducibility of analytical test procedures through inter- and intra-laboratory studies.

The quality of decisions is determined by the quality of data.

Nationals and International Standards

• ISO 9001; Quality management systems - Requirements.
• ISO 17025; General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
• ASTM D 4182; Standard Practice for Evaluation of Laboratories Using ASTM Procedures in the Sampling and Analysis of Coal and Coke.
• ASTM D 4621; Standard Guide for Quality Management in an Organization That Samples or Tests Coal and Coke.
• ASTM E 882; Standard Guide for Accountability and Quality Control in the Chemical Analysis Laboratory.