As we wrap up another year, laboratories are slowing down and turning their attention to maintenance, calibrations and their Quality Management System. Many laboratories may be preparing for an onsite assessment that comes around every 2 years, and being prepared for this is paramount. That said, it has never been a better time to implement

One of the three basic accreditation requirements is participating in and managing your Proficiency Sample Program (PSP). This plays a key role in the overall quality of your laboratory beyond the requirements for accreditation. So let’s take a look at the true benefits for your laboratory; a great tool to monitor quality control within the

We have found that users have been able to create duplicate equipment categories with the same category name. When this happens, all of the equipment records that have, for example, “Category 1” will be duplicated, causing confusion. The fix going forward Within the Manage Lab Tab/equipment categories, there are default system categories. If a duplicate

Managing and maintaining equipment procedure forms and required information can be labor intensive if done correctly, so let’s take a look at the requirements, formats and changes that come annually to the AASHTO R18 standard. Laboratories are required for accreditation to perform calibration, standardization, checks and maintenance procedures. While these requirements are executed through in-house

It’s important to identify measurement standards in your equipment inventory and to include details when documenting procedures. Measurement standards are non-working instruments used for in-house calibrations, checks and standardization procedures that should not be used as day-to-day working instruments in the laboratory. Using measurement standards as “working equipment” can ultimately lead to non-conformities when discovered

It’s easy to become overwhelmed when it comes to maintaining procedures that require recurring activities within your quality manual; equipment procedures, technician evaluations, PSP samples, and management reviews – just to name a few. Examples of procedures that don’t require frequencies would be storage, retention and disposal of test samples and identifying samples. Let’s take a

With the number of labs growing that have implemented R18LabQMS, the number of labs adding satellite lab accounts is also growing. These labs have seen the benefit of the application to manage all procedures in one place and to provide ease of access to the assessor prior to coming on-site. The benefits are numerous, let’s

2018 is rapidly coming to a close. It was a benchmark year of milestones that have taken R18LabQMS to new heights. Looking back to the early days and development of R18LabQMS, we never imagined the far reach this management tool would have in the industry. A DOT in the Northeast was the very first user

Training for technicians may be one of the most important activities within the laboratory. Lack of proper training will affect the overall quality of tests results, variability, and ultimately, the bottom line. Whether or not your laboratory is accredited, technician training is a must. You must have training procedures in place, not only for new

When I first came to the Asphalt Institute laboratory (circa 1994) there were very few computers in the offices. There were only large desktop models and thick massive square monitors. How times have changed! I remember my first computer purchase, it was a ‘386’ with a 40 megabytes hard drive in 1991. I’m not going