Article written by
Wade DeLong, Lab Manager, Analytical Products Group
July 1, 2005, marked the beginning of new options for Voluntary Action Program (VAP) certified laboratories to
maintain their certification requirements. VAP will now accept NELAC approved PT studies from VAP approved PT
providers to meet VAP PT requirements.
Read
the letter "Ohio’s Voluntary Action Program - Changes to Laboratory Programs"
[http://www.apgqa.com/newsletters/VAP_PE_Program_final_062805.pdf]
Now that PT results have been reported to the laboratories and the Accrediting Authority, it is time for refining the process,
as is often the case with any new process. There are some reporting issues from both the laboratories and the
Accrediting Authority that need to be addressed. APG has included analytes in some of our products that do not
appear on the NELAC Fields of Testing tables, due to customer needs for additional state requirements. Therefore
when a certified laboratory submits all analytes within a PT sample to the VAP Accrediting Authority there will likely
be analytes that are not applicable to VAP certification. This has resulted in the Accrediting Authority having to sort
through the list of reported analytes for the VAP specific analytes.
In some cases certified laboratories did not report
all of the necessary analytes for their VAP certifications, because they did not order all component ampules for a given
list. For example, a laboratory needing to maintain certification for VAP volatiles would
need to purchase both the Volatiles and Volatile Aromatics PT products. While it is the responsibility of
the certified laboratory to obtain, analyze and report the required PTs, APG has a tool to help alleviate the confusion in VAP
reporting and APG customer service can help make sure laboratories have purchased all necessary PTs to cover their certification
needs. Certified laboratories that use APG's on-line reporting tool can select the analytes within each PT to be submitted
to the Accrediting Authority. Therefore, if you are using your PTs for multiple certification programs, then
you can select all analytes to go to an Accrediting Authority or in the case of VAP select only those analytes that
are needed for VAP certification.
Only APG offers this level of specificity in reporting your PT
results. This service is available at no charge to the laboratories
that use APG PTs for their certification needs and report data online.
Contact APG customer service for more information on how to take advantage of the most
advanced on-line reporting systems in the PT industry. APG customer
service can also help you minimize your dollars spent on PTs by
establishing a PT schedule to meet NELAC, DMRQA, VAP and state
specific requirements.
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