Laboratory Accreditation and Data Certification: A System for Success

This book provides descriptions of current laboratory accreditation schemes and explains why these schemes fall short of assuring data purchasers that the data produced from accredited laboratories are always quality products. The book then presents a system for laboratory accreditation in conjunction with data certification that assures data purchasers their data are useful for the purposes for which they are intended. Simple quality assurance and quality control techniques, in addition to concepts of total quality management, are described and then applied to the environmental laboratory industry. This "System For Success" was developed from real problems and real solutions within the industry and represents an integration of proven techniques that offer a better way to ensure quality laboratory data is obtained. Laboratory Accreditation: A Workable Solution is a must for government officials, environmental professionals, independent environmental laboratories, hazardous waste disposal industries, chemical manufacturers, QA professionals, and testing laboratories.

Carla Dempsey is a Program Development Manager for Environ­mental Programs at Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company in Washington D.C. She is responsible for locating opportunities in the environmental field for applying the high technology that has been developed at Lockheed. Ms. Dempsey has prior experience at the Environmental Protection Agency where she was the Quality Assurance Coordinator for the Superfund Contract Laboratory Program. She has also been a Project Manager with environmental consulting firms. Before focusing on environmental issues, she assisted the U.S. Navy design a national quality assurance program as the Quality Assurance Manager for the Laboratory Division at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA. Ms. Dempsey received her BS. in Chemistry from Gonzaga Univer­sity in Spokane, WA and her MS in Chemistry from the University of Washington in Seattle. J. D. Petty is the Director of Analytical Research and Quality Control at the Ferment a Animal Health Co. The research involves development of methodology to determine a wide array of pharmaceu­tical ingredients in a variety of matrices. In addition Dr. Petty is respon­sible for ensuring that all analytical data meet the requirements of FDA Good Laboratory Practice and Good Manufacturing Practice regula­tions. Dr. Petty has prior experience as the Chief of the Quality Assurance Research Branch of the EPA's Environimal Monitoring Systems Labo­ratory at Las Vegas and as the Chief Chemist of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services' National Fisheries Contaminant Research Center located in Columbia, Missouri. Dr. Petty received his BS in Chemistry from Central Missouri State University in 1970 and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Univer­sity of Missouri-Columbia in 1975. Dr. Petty has authored and co­authored over 50 publications on a wide range of research topics.