Since September 2004, the Environment Agency has only accepted analytical data for contaminated land assessments from laboratories accredited to MCERTS: the Agency’s performance standard for the chemical testing of soil, which is an extension to the existing ISO 17025:2000 standard.
A major requirement for obtaining MCERTS accreditation, is the rigorous validation of test methods and determination of their precision and bias, against targets set by the Environment Agency. Although the use of matrix reference materials for this process is highly recommended, many existing materials are not wholly suitable for the new standard.
LGC, in collaboration with the Environment Agency, UKAS and UK soil testing laboratories, and with VAM funding, is setting about developing a new range of soil certified reference materials with MCERTS in mind. Along with extensive analysis for the assignment of certified and assessed values to the material, soil characterisation data will be provided to allow users to assess the material’s matrix for suitability. The first of these new materials is LGC6189: a river sediment certified for extractable metals to ISO 11466, allows laboratories to establish traceability and make bias measurements on their in-house methods. The release of this new reference material extends LGC range of QC and reference materials suitable for MCERTS.
LGC6189 will shortly be available from LGC Promochem.
More information about VAM’s activity in the environment sector can be found at the Environment Virtual Sector Network on the VAM website.
This article was first published in Laboratory News, November 2004, pp8. Further information about Laboratory News can be found at www.labnews.co.uk