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Complete Article from November 10 APG eNewsletter
Article written by Jerry L. Parr of INELA
For more information, contact
Jerry L. Parr
INELA
817-598-0458
jparr@inela.org
NELAC 9i Meeting in Dallas, Texas
INELA Meeting
INELA will have its annual meeting from Monday January 26 through Wednesday
January 28. The meeting will contain a special session on Monday morning
where INELA's plans for developing and approving accreditation standards
will be presented. Most of the meeting will be devoted to meetings of
the INELA expert and administrative committees. INELA plans to present
its first draft laboratory accreditation standard for consideration by
the membership and others at the meeting.
NELAC Ninth Interim Meeting
The NELAC meeting will feature an open forum on accreditation issues as
well as meetings of the newly formed Standards Review Committee (SRC) and
the PT Board. The SRC (and its subcommittees) will be discussing issues
related to the changes in the NELAC Constitution and Bylaws approved July 2002 that
now allow NELAC to adopt standards developed by consensus standards
organizations. NELAC will also host an Opening Reception on Wednesday evening
to allow participants to meet informally with the NELAC Board of Directors and
Committee Chairs.
Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board
The Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB) is a Federal Advisory Committee
that reports to the EPA Administrator and is chartered to provide consensus advice
to EPA on issues relating to laboratory accreditation. ELAB will have its Open
Forum on Tuesday evening. This Open Forum allows anyone to bring forth an issue
that they believe ELAB should consider. ELAB will have it's meeting, that is open
to the public, on Wednesday afternoon. The issues to be discussed at this meeting
include: nonparticipating laboratories, homeland security, and the expansion of
the ELAB charter.
Training Courses and Workshops
On Sunday, January 25, INELA will sponsor two day-long training courses.
The objective of the first course, Assessing Laboratories to the 2002 NELAC Standard,
is to assist state laboratory assessors in conducting consistent laboratory inspections
according to the 2002 NELAC standard. This version of the standard, which becomes
effective in July 2004, represents a significant change from the current standard
being used, primarily because of the incorporation of ISO/IEC 17025 requirements.
The objective of the second course, Internal Audits, Management Reviews and
Corrective Actions, is oriented towards laboratory QA managers and is focused on
Section 5.5.3 of the 2001 NELAC standard. This course is envisioned to provide
detailed guidance for laboratory QA managers who are employed by laboratories currently
accredited to the NELAC standards or seeking accreditation. INELA expects this course to
be one in a series of courses on implementing a laboratory quality system.
On Monday morning, prior to the start of the INELA meeting, INELA will be hosting two
special seminars. The first of these, NELAC 101, is designed to provide background
information to those registered for the Forum. The seminar will provide information
on INELA, NELAC and ELAB as well as an overview of the weeks' activities. The second
seminar, The Speaker's Bureau, is for those INELA members who wish to help with
outreach activities of the Institute. A general presentation about INELA will be
reviewed and discussed.
For more information on the meeting,
please go to www.inela.org.
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