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Accreditation and Quality Assurance: Journal for Quality, Comparability and Reliability in Chemical Measurement (v.8, #1)
Communication: the essential factor when implementing management systems by A. Borsese; R. D. McDowall; J. M. Andrade (pp. 2-12).
Internal communication within a company is essential for the implementation and proper functioning of any ISO-based quality system. Moreover, staff empowerment and distribution of responsibilities are key points in the ISO 9000:2000 quality guides. Although not specifically mentioned in the quality guides, external communication plays a fundamental role in assuring customer satisfaction and obtaining good ideas to improve company performance. This paper has two main parts. First, the importance of internal and external communication is reviewed and it is shown that managers should allocate more resources to both areas. It is also demonstrated that environmental management systems are directly derived from the quality guides. Second, the results of an enquiry to assess the efforts being made by a group of Italian senior managers to improve internal and external communication are evaluated.
Keywords: Keywords Communication ; Quality management ; Environmental management ; EMAS ; ISO14001 ; ISO 9000
An uncertainty evaluation for multiple measurements by GUM by J. Choi; Euijin Hwang; H.-Y. So; Byungjoo Kim (pp. 13-15).
An approach for uncertainty evaluation is proposed to determine the overall uncertainty by combining the uncertainties of the individual results from multiple measurements. It is accomplished by the separate combinations of the individual random and systematic components of the uncertainties of the individual results. The approach is useful when the individual results are not statistically different. It is recognized that, owing to the correlation, the uncertainty resulting from systematic effects is not reduced by multiple measurements. On the contrary, the uncertainty resulting from random effects can be reduced.
Keywords: Keywords Uncertainty; Covariance; Uncertainty Propagation; GUM
An inter-laboratory comparison for determination of cortisol in saliva by A. H. Garde; Åse Marie Hansen; Thomas Block Nikolajsen (pp. 16-20).
An inter-laboratory comparison study for cortisol in saliva is reported in the present study. Nine laboratories representing four different methods participated in the study. Each laboratory measured five blind samples prepared from natural saliva spiked with a pure certified reference material in the range 0–70 nmol/L. The average observed values were established as means of eight laboratories, because one laboratory was excluded as an outlier. The natural content of cortisol in the pooled saliva was 6.8 nmol/L. The recovery of the certified reference material was 83%–131% (164% for the outlying laboratory). For five laboratories the 95%-confidence intervals of the recoveries did not cover 100%. The standard deviations for a concentration of 10 nmol/L were estimated for each laboratory. They were 0.64–1.67 nmol/L (6.26 nmol/L for the outlying laboratory). The present study emphasizes the need for an external proficiency-testing scheme and a certified reference material for cortisol in saliva.
Keywords: Keywords Method comparison; External quality control; Cortisol; Saliva
Interlaboratory quality audit program for potable water – assessment of method validation done on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) by G. Anand Kumar; H. S. Sahoo; S. K. Satpathy; G. Swarnabala (pp. 21-24).
In an effort to assess the method validation done using ICP-AES in our laboratory for potable water, an Environmental Laboratory Approval Program organized by New York State Department of Health, Wadsworth Center providing the reference material has been undertaken for 14 trace elements and seven other chemical constituents. The certified means for the reference material and the results obtained in our laboratory are compared. The comparisons helped us assess the quality of our work. All the data from the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) fall into the ranges specified. These data are intended to depict the quality of chemical analysis being conducted in our laboratory and to increase the level of confidence of our clientele in accepting our test reports. It should be further noted that while the technique may not be new, the model is new and the simultaneous detection of elements required validation for those of our clientele who are only familiar with sequential AAS and AES.
Keywords: Keywords ICP-AES; Environmental Laboratory Approval Program; New York Department of Health; Wadsworth Center; Trace elements; Potable water
Practical experience of the laboratories in implementing the ISO/IEC 17025
by J. Pritzkow (pp. 25-26).
Reference Materials total information services of Japan (RMinfo)
by N. Naito; Hanako Ishikawa; Yoshiyasu Yamauchi; Mariko Murayama (pp. 26-29).