Many laboratories regard Quality Assurance, Quality Assessment and Quality Control as independent activities, others use the terms interchangeably, e.g. QA/QC. This demonstrates a lack of appreciation of the differences between Assurance, Assessment and Control, as well as the interrelationships, particularly between QA and QC. This has created confusion in the minds of many analysts with respect to understanding how QA and QC play separate, but related roles for achieving Quality Assurance in a Quality Management System (QMS). QMS is the catch phrase for accreditation and is the backbone of ISO/IEC Standard 17025:2005.
Accreditation to international standards is being becoming the norm in the global analytical community. Although essentially voluntary, there are many jurisdictions that now require food and environmental laboratories to be accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 in order to participate in regulatory programs. This webinar will address not only how to develop a QMS that will affect the day to day operation of the laboratory, but also how to maintain it.
Why should you Attend: Many laboratories struggle with developing and implementing a functional quality management system that not only complies with the management and technical requirements of ISO/IEC 17025:2005 but also meets their needs. Once accreditation has been achieved many laboratories have difficulty maintaining the QMS as evidenced by the number of non-conformances cited during the subsequent biannual audits. Why do you want to become accredited? Where do you start? For laboratories that are already accredited, how do you ensure staff adherence and ongoing compliance to minimize corrective actions arising from accreditation audits? Getting there is relatively easy. Staying there is hard part.
Areas Covered in the Session: