American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) training

As part of our due diligence and risk assessment process, we observed that A2LA’s continued expansion of its training offerings might, over time, give rise to questions regarding impartiality that could be difficult to mitigate, given A2LA’s primary focus on providing best-in-class accreditation services. As a result, A2LA decided it would no longer provide training services, and A2LA has transferred its training resources and course offerings to the independent, separately recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation, A2LA WorkPlace Training.

Using the ISO/IEC accreditation standards and information provided during the class, participants will review the basic concepts of procedure structure, content, and development; will practice developing Standard Operation Procedures, both technical and administrative; and will gain an understanding of the mechanisms needed to control, review, and update procedures on a continuing basis.

In the interest of public health and safety, many states are raising the bar for cannabis testing laboratories by requiring those laboratories to be ISO/IEC 17025 accredited. This course will provide an introduction to ISO/IEC 17025 and its requirements for demonstrating technical competence of cannabis testing laboratories. Throughout this course, those involved in the cannabis industry will learn why this Standard applies to them and how accreditation improves their visibility and credibility over non-accredited labs. Attendees will be introduced to the A2LA accreditation process and will gain insight into the interpretation of the requirements of this international laboratory standard. Laboratory personnel will learn how implementing the Standard will make their labs better; regulatory personnel will understand how the Standard can ensure impartial technical competence. A2LA accreditation will deliver what you need: defensibility, credibility, sustainability, and accountability.

This workshop provides guidance for testing laboratories in estimating the measurement uncertainty for the test methods on their Scope of Accreditation. While calibration measurement uncertainty budgets have become fairly standardized for most parameters, this is not so for test methods. There are thousands of different test methods and uncertainty budgets for one method may not be appropriate for another. This workshop teaches the use of several tools and techniques that a lab may apply in their testing environment. The tools are generic in nature such that they may be applied to various testing laboratories.

This course is a comprehensive look at the ISO/IEC 17025:2005 requirements and a detailed approach to the assessment of a laboratory’s competence. The course is applicable to all testing and calibration laboratories and it provides an understandable explanation of the international laboratory standard and how it should be applied and implemented. In this course, you will receive a detailed review of the A2LA accreditation process and you will also gain critical insight into the interpretation of the requirements of this international laboratory standard

This course practices the internationally-recognized approaches of ISO 19011:2011-Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems to conducting effective internal audits. The techniques learned promote the involvement of laboratory personnel. The course includes easy-to-implement methods for continual improvement and preparing for external assessments to ISO/IEC 17025:2005-General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories.

This two-day course will use lecture, discussion and interactive exercises to assist you in understanding the benefit of the newly revised and recently published ISO 15189:2012 standard. Through the implementation of `best in class` guidance contained in ISO 15189, you will be able to: Use a systems view of quality management to better design and implement `best in class` laboratory functions; Design a `best in class` total laboratory process that addresses the principles of quality medical laboratory services; and Implement pre-examination, examination and post-examination processes essential to `best in class` patient care, specific to your laboratory.

This course is an introductory look at ISO/IEC 17025 and its requirements for demonstrating the technical competence of testing and calibration laboratories. In this course, you will be introduced to the A2LA accreditation process and will gain insight into the interpretation of the requirements of this international laboratory standard.

This course is a comprehensive look at Proficiency Testing (PT), including the design and operation of PT schemes, statistical methods, reporting, and interpretation. The course covers the requirements of the International Standards for PT, namely ISO/IEC 17043 Conformity assessment- General requirements for proficiency testing and ISO 13528 Statistical methods for proficiency testing by interlaboratory comparisons.