develop consensus standards for use by TNI's programs. This group has a support role in assisting other programs with activities such as guidance and standards interpretation.
fosters the generation of data of known and documented quality is through the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, or NELAP. The purpose of this program is to establish and implement a program for the accreditation of environmental laboratories.
is to establish and maintain a national PT program to support TNI’s National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, and other activities.
Field Activities Program (NEFAP) Executive Committee is to establish and implement an accreditation program for field sampling and measurement organizations (FSMOs).
on a variety of topics of interest to the environmental measurement community. TNI also hosts two regularly scheduled meetings per year, typically in January and August. Both are a week long and involve open meetings of TNI committees as well as training courses and other special sessions.Standard Interpretation
Standard: 2009 TNI
Section: V1M1, Section 4.2.1 (a)
REQUEST:
Please clarify the use of "analysis date" in V1M1, section 4.2.1 a) for successive PT samples. The standard states that the analysis date is to be at least 5 months apart and no longer than 7 months apart. TNI defines "analysis date" as the "calendar date of analysis" in the "Terms and Definitions" section. So, if a PT sample is analyzed on March 15, 2011, is the period anytime between August 2011 and October 2011 (5 - 7 months) acceptable, or, must one use the period August 15, 2011 to October 15, 2011 for the next PT sample?
TNI FINAL RESPONSE:
(PT Expert Committee and NELAP AC, 2-24-14)
The term "analysis date" is as defined in the Terms and Definitions. The 5 to 7 month window would be as is described above; PTs must be analyzed between August 15, 2011 to October 15, 2011 for evaluation purposes.