What to look for and ask when choosing a laboratory

Selecting quality environmental analysis services for yourself, or your client, requires special thought and attention. Chemex has years of expertise in laboratory quality assurance services and laboratory auditing and we can put this knowledge at your disposal to help you make your selection. Knowing what to look for and what to ask will help you choose a laboratory that provides quality care and best meets your needs.

Although you may not always have the opportunity to choose the laboratory where your samples are tested, you can obtain some important information about them, which will give you a good idea of what levels of service to expect from them. Their answers will give you confidence that your samples will be analysed properly and the reported data will be reliable. Begin by asking yourself or your company why they selected the laboratory and then discuss specifics about the quality improvement processes the laboratory has in place.

General questions
· Does the laboratory have a single contact point for all enquiries? Is it based at the laboratory site or at a different location/ international call centre?
· How fast are your enquiries dealt with?
· What criteria does your or company use to choose the laboratory? Do you have confidence in the accuracy of the test results?
· Does the laboratory notify the client if there is a problem related to your project samples or results? What is the follow-up procedure?
· Have you ever received an incorrect result from the laboratory? How honest was the laboratory and what actions were taken to solve the problem?

Questions about sample collection
· How fast the laboratory can arrange the dispatch of the sampling kits?
· Does laboratory provide you with the complete sampling kit free of charge?
· Are sampling containers and labelling high quality? Does the laboratory re-use the sampling containers?
· How clear and in detail are the instructions provided with the sampling kit?
· What steps do they take to ensure that sample temperature maintained at the required levels through the shipment?
· Are reliable couriers used?
· Does the laboratory inform you when the samples are received or let you know what condition they were in?
· Will you be charged for the storage of any samples placed ON HOLD, or charged for extra storage if they need to be kept longer for further analysis. How long does the laboratory retain the samples after the analysis? Is there a fee for this?

Questions about the test results
· How soon can you expect to learn the test results? Are 24hr or 48hr services available?
· How will you be informed of test results? Will you receive any notes regarding the issued during the sample analysis?
· How will laboratory deal with any issues in supporting AQC sample data?
· How clear is the test report? Does it have more information than just your sample results? Are chromatograms and quality control data or instrument calibration details provided, if needed? Is short method description provided each time?
· Are all test reports audited by an independent QA department for compliance and any possible errors? Are all reports approved for release by the head of the QA department?
· Is there a number you can call if you have questions?

Quality oversight
· Is the laboratory accredited by a nationally recognised accrediting body such as the UKAS?
· Is the laboratory accredited to UK EA MCERTS standard? Does the accreditation cover the most organic and inorganic parameters?
· Is the laboratory GLP compliant?
· Does the laboratory have US EPA approval certification?
· Is the laboratory a member of any industry committees or organisations working towards continuity and quality in environmental testing?
· What methodology is used for the testing? Is it worldwide approved and published method or developed in-house?
· How often does the laboratory check the ongoing validation of the method? Does it participate in external Proficiency Testing schemes, such as CONTEST, Aquacheck, RT-Corp and others? Is data available is requested?
· Does the laboratory allow you to come and audit them at any time?

It is important to ask these questions when you choose a laboratory as in many cases if they can’t answer “yes” to these queries you may well find that their quality of service or reliability of results is questionable and end up having to conduct expensive repeat tests. Why risk poor quality data or paying to test twice when you can use a reliable, quality driven laboratory like Chemex?