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).
Audit Sample Program is to develop consensus standards for the manufacture and analysis of audit samples for source emission testing.
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: V1M4, Section 1.5.2.1
REQUEST:
Section 1.5.2.1 Limit of Detection (LOD) in its opening sentence states: "If the laboratory is not reporting a value below the Limit of Quantitation, a Limit of Detection study is not required." Does this opening statement supercede, nullify, lessen and/or somehow impact on the requirments found in 1.5.2.1 d), e) and f)? To paraphrase, if you do not report a value below the Limit of Quantitation does a laboratory still have to initially determine the LOD, perform an LOD each time there is a change in the method or the instrument and/or verify the LOD annually. There is a need for clarity the standard and obtain an standards interpretation of this section of the standard as it pertains to the above question.
TNI FINAL RESPONSE:
(Quality Systems Expert Committee and NELAP AC, 1-20-14)
If the laboratory is not reporting a value below the Limit of Quantitation, a Limit of Detection study is not required, unless specified by the reference method. This statement supersedes any requirements that follow in Section 1.5.2.1.