ISO 17025 - Methods validation and clients

[apatriciad]

Hello!
Our laboratory decided to get accredited with ISO 17025. We already defined some requirements, one of them are the clients (internal and external).
The main goal of the accreditation is the possibility to have external clients (we currently only have internal clients - our company).

We are starting method validation. So, my doubt is: can we have validated methods and non-validated methods for the same parameter (ex. pH)?

Example:
Client A prefer the accredited method to submit to environmental authorities
Client B prefer non-accredited method (cheaper) just need trivial information for his own knowledge

Thank you!

 

[John Broomfield]

What would be the cost to your accredited lab's reputation if it also sold testing of dubious quality?

After adding these costs is unvalidated testing really cheaper?

If, after acknowledging these costs, your accredited lab still wants to sell unaccredited testing methods alongside accredited methods then it will have to manage all the risks of doing that starting with the warning the client of the consequences their choice, removing the possibility of mix-ups and documenting the limitations of the unvalidated test results.

 

[apatriciad]

Thank you for your reply! I am all in favor of accreditation but we also want to save money to our company!

In fact, our lab was built to serve our company. Everyday we made hundreds of analysis just for process control, without quality control because we are not accredited, however, we calibrate our equipment to have some security in our results. In this batches of analysis that we do everyday, just a few need results from accredited lab, so we send the samples to an accredited lab, and they they prepare the report (not us). Let's say its like a 70-30 ratio (80 non requires accredited testing methods - 20 requires accredited testing methods), so the costs in reagents in considerable in a year...

So, in terms of costs the idea is not selling unaccredited testing method for external clients, but practice them in the analysis that don't requester that. And obviously, decrease the consumption in other laboratories.

What do you think? I am happy to be able to discuss this matter

 

[John Broomfield]

In growing your lab’s commercial testing business just be careful to differentiate your different grades of testing via your lab’s scope of accreditation and in the test reports.

Can the lab validate all of its test methods even when they are not included in the scope of its accreditation?