Why can’t ORELAP sponsor and offer no-cost lab workshops, as they used to be provided under the old Drinking Water Laboratory Certification Program?
Although ORELAP would like to offer workshops, the resources are not currently available to do so. However ORELAP continues to support other organizations and institutions in offering training in any way that we can, usually by serving as speakers at meetings and short schools. Q: NELAC Standards are vague and generalized. A: In an effort to balance clarity with flexibility, many NELAC Standards are often prescriptive while others are general to allow laboratories options in developing their own policies and procedures to meet basic requirements. The intent is to allow laboratories to design a quality management system that best suits their facility while ensuring the quality of the data generated. Under these circumstances, ORELAP cannot dictate every policy and procedure, but rather, the laboratory needs to develop a quality system and offer it to ORELAP for evaluation. The ORELAP assessors then review the laboratory’s plan and determine whether it meets the intent of the NELAC Stand
