Quality practices

The network of Eurofins Environment Testing laboratories in Australia provide the highest quality services, accurate, timely results and expert advice from our highly qualified team of experienced scientists. As data integrity is of paramount importance, we continually monitor both data quality and our laboratory operations to ensure that the highest standards are maintained.

The network of Eurofins Environment Testing laboratories in Australia operate a quality system that is fully accredited by NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia) under ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and is managed and overseen by our regional quality manager in conjunction with the management team.

Quality control (QC) parameters follow guidelines delineated in the national environment protection (Assessment of Site Contamination) measure April 2011, schedule B3, guideline on laboratory analysis of potentially contaminated soils and US EPA SW-846 Chapter 1: 'Quality Control'. It comprises the following (method blank, laboratory duplicate, LCS and matrix spikes) when a laboratory process batch is deemed to consist of up to 20 samples that are similar in terms of matrix and test procedure, and are processed as one unit for QC purposes. If more than 20 samples are being processed, they are considered as more than one batch:

Method blank

One method blank per process batch.

Laboratory duplicate

There should be at least one duplicate per process batch, or two duplicates if the process batch exceeds 10 samples.

Laboratory control sample (LCS)

There should be at least one LCS per process batch.

Matrix spikes

There should be one matrix spike per matrix type per process batch.

Control charts are used to monitor whether laboratory processes remain stable and under control. Where variation is limited to normal process fluctuations, no adjustments to process control parameters are required. If a control chart indicates that a process is out of control, testing is stopped immediately and procedures are initiated to bring the system back in control. The control chart is a basic tool of quality control. 

Measurement uncertainty - ISO/IEC 17025:2017(E) 3rd Edition: General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories in Section 7.6 Evaluation of measurement uncertainty outlines the requirements for laboratories to calculate measurement uncertainty. This is detailed for the majority of measurands here.

You can learn more about the accreditation of Eurofins Environment Testing Australia Laboratories here

Please select here for analytical method summaries.