IPA 2008 Proficiency Testing Project

In the period between 15th and 19th February 2010 induction training for laboratories and national accreditation bodies was delivered in Ljubljana as part of IPA 2008 Proficiency Testing Project.

Training participants were the selected from laboratories and national accreditation bodies from the Balkans region and Turkey. The Project Coordinator is the Laboratory of Metrology and Quality, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, where the introduction lectures were given in line with the programme.

A total of seven PT schemes will be implemented as part of the Project in the following fields: calibration (temperature) and testing (environmental noise, testing of waste water parameters, air quality, pasteurised milk testing, cement and asphalt testing). Pilot laboratories will be selected for each field and they will, in cooperation with experts from laboratories in Ljubljana, act as coordinators and organisers of PT schemes, while other selected laboratories will participate in their fields of expertise.

National accreditation bodies from the region took part in this project due to the extreme importance and role of Proficiency Testing Project (PT schemes). Requirements that national accreditation bodies set for their accredited CABs require mandatory participation in relevant PT schemes and inter-laboratory comparisons, and the PT results are an important indicator of the quality of results of testing/calibration performed by accredited CABs.

A laboratory from Serbia that was selected as a pilot laboratory and organiser of a PT scheme in the filed of physical and chemical parameters of cement testing is the Material Testing Laboratory of the IMS Institute, Belgrade. Laboratories participating in other fields that were selected to participate in PT schemes on behalf of Serbia are as follows: Directorate for Measures and Precious Metals, Belgrade (calibration - temperature); AD Zaštita na radu i zaštita životne sredine (joint-stock company, Occupational and Environmental Safety), Laboratory for Noise, Vibrations and Pressure Vessels (testing – environmental noise); Institute of Public Health of Serbia “Dr Milan Jovanović Batut”, Belgrade (testing – waste water); Republic Hydrometeorological Institute of Serbia, Belgrade (testing – air quality); Jugoinspekt-Beograd AD, Topčider Institute, Testing laboratory for quality and health safety of products, Belgrade (testing – pasteurised milk); Faculty of Civil Engineering, Laboratory for pavement constructions, Belgrade (testing – asphalt).

Given that the project resources are limited, it will not be possible now to increase the number of laboratories that were really interested in participating in these PT schemes. The number of laboratories participating therein is limited to 34 selected ones and it included all the said fields and the entire region (including Turkey).
Ljiljana Markićević, Head of the Laboratory Department, and Azra Redžepović, Accreditation File Manager, attended this induction training as representatives of the Accreditation Board of Serbia.