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Regulations & Permits > Permits & certifications > Laboratory Accreditation > Laboratory quality assurance manual review checklist

Quality assurance manual review checklist

All laboratories seeking environmental accreditation must provide a quality assurance manual for review and approval by our staff. This checklist can help you write or review a quality assurance manual for your lab.

Before you submit your manual, use the following guide to review it. Keep in mind that not all points may apply to every lab.

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We assess quality assurance manuals based on the following points. Use this checklist to guide your review of your own manual. Some points may not apply to smaller non-commercial labs.
 

□ Item
□ Title page (larger labs)
□ Table of contents (larger labs)
□ Lab organization
 
  • organization chart (larger labs)
□ Managers identified
 
  • quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) responsibilities summarized
□ Designated Quality Assurance (QA) coordinator
 
  • if none, someone else designated as primary quality assurance person
□ QA person's responsibilities summarized
□ QA responsibilities of staff identified
□ Overall quality assurance/quality control policy statement
□ Policy establishing criteria for Data Quality Objectives (DQOs):
 
  • completeness
  • representativeness
  • defensibility
  • accuracy
□ Program for determining if DQOs met
 
  • corrective action when DQOs not met
□ QA/QC training policy documented
□ Procedures for sample management:
 
  • requesting analysis
  • receipt of sample
  • logging of sample
  • storage of sample
  • handling of sample
  • chain of custody
  • criteria for acceptance/rejection
□ Requirements for meeting:
 
  • container requirements
  • holding times
  • preservation requirements
□ List of routinely used methods
□ Standard operating procedures for in-house methods or modification of standardized methods
□ Any unique calibration (standardization) procedures documented
□ Guidelines established for:
 
  • blanks
  • check standards
  • duplicates
  • matrix Spikes
  • Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) or Standard Reference Materials (SRMs)
□ Procedures for use of control charts
□ Procedures for prep/storage of standards
□ Definitions documented or referenced for:
 
  • accuracy
  • precision
  • bias
  • other key QA/QC control terms
□ Equations given for important statistics such as:
 
  • Standard Deviation from "n" replicates
  • Standard Deviation by pooling "m" duplicate pairs
  • percent recovery from matrix spikes
□ Procedure for establishing Minimum Detection Limits (MDL)
 
  • MDLs established for applicable tests
  • relationship between of MDL and reporting limit (RL) explained
□ Procedures established for data:
 
  • recording
  • reduction
  • validation
  • entry
  • reporting
  • assessment (if lab responsibility)
  • retention
□ Requirement for system audits specified
 
  • both internal and external
  • by whom
□ Requirement for performance audits specified
 
  • by whom
  • at least one study per year
□ Requirements for other audits (larger labs)
 
  • management system audits
  • data quality audits
□ QA/QC reports periodically prepared
 
  • reviewed by responsible individual

Related links

Contact information

Rebecca Wood
Supervisor, Laboratory Accreditation Unit
rebecca.wood@ecy.wa.gov
360-742-7022