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: 2003 NELAC
Section: Appendix D.2.8 (s)
Link to relevant standard
REQUEST:
"The maximum holding time... shall not exceed 36 hours.."
If the analysis is done past the 36-hour holding time (like 5 minutes after 36 hours), but before 37 hours, will it be still considered as analyzed within holding time?
TNI FINAL RESPONSE:
(Quality System Expert Committee/NELAP Accreditation Council, 3-x-11)
Holding times are considered as the time not to be exceeded. When they are measured in hours, the requirement would be to not exceed that many hours. An analysis done 5 minutes beyond 36 hours exceeds 36 hours, and is therefore not within the prescribed holding time.
The acceptability and/or usability will be determined by the data users.