BS EN ISO 17025:2005 is the British, European and International Standard for quality assurance in analytical laboratories. In the UK, laboratories claiming compliance with the standard are inspected and accredited by UKAS. Accreditation to this standard also means that the laboratory’s management systems meet the principles of ISO 9001:2000. However, a laboratory certified to ISO 9001:2000 but without ISO/IEC 17025:2005 accreditation should never be considered a suitable alternative.

The standard covers quality control procedures and method specific procedures. Although laboratories achieving the standard are regarded as UKAS accredited, accreditation can only be claimed for individual methods that have been inspected and approved by UKAS.

A list of accredited methods is given on Sciantec’s UKAS schedule.

Sciantec believes that achieving this accreditation will reassure its customers of the high standard of work that is carried out.

The web address for the list of accredited laboratories, and where to get the individual laboratory accreditation schedules is: www.ukas.org/testing