|
7th
December 2007
SADC underscores laboratory
accreditation
THE Southern African Development
Community (SADC) has called for improved
competence of national standards
laboratories in the region.
The call was made on Tuesday, December
4, 2007 by Donald Masuku, the Regional
Coordinator for SADC Measurement
Traceability (SADCMET) during a water
proficiency testing evaluation workshop
held in Dar es Salaam.
He said SADC countries need to accredit
their laboratories in order to be able
to compete internationally.
"Accreditation is the most important
component for a laboratory striving to
compete internationally. National
standards bodies need to have their
laboratories accredited to ISO 17025,"
he urged.
Opening the workshop, Tanzania Bureau of
Standards Acting Director Charles
Ekelege said it was imperative for
laboratories to produce analytical data
and demonstrate accuracy and
comparability among them.
"It is through a proficiency testing
scheme that a laboratory can demonstrate
its competence," he stressed.
Mr. Ekelege told participants from
various countries that proficiency
testing is a quality assurance tool for
an individual laboratory to enable it to
compare its performance with similar
laboratories.
On accreditation, Mr. Ekelege said
Tanzania has not yet made significant
achievements in laboratory
accreditation. However, he added that
seven TBS laboratories are at different
stages of accreditation, while five more
laboratories countrywide are preparing
for accreditation.
He mentioned the organizations whose
laboratories are preparing for
accreditation as Tanzania Industrial
Research and Development Organization (TIRDO),
Government Chemist Laboratory Agency (GCLA),
National Fish Quality Control Laboratory
(NFQCL), Tanzania Food and Drugs
Authority (TFDA) and Tanzania Automotive
Technology Centre (TATC).
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