Quality Policy and Quality System Overview

Purpose. States the laboratory's quality commitment and describes the structure of the quality management system that supports accreditation to the international standard for testing and calibration laboratories.

1.Quality commitment

Veritas will provide test results that are accurate, traceable, impartial and delivered on time. Management commits to good professional practice, to complying with the requirements of the accreditation body and to continually improving the effectiveness of the quality management system. Every member of staff must be familiar with this policy and must apply the procedures that sit beneath it.

2.Structure of the quality system

The system is documented in four levels. Level one is this policy and the quality manual. Level two is the procedures that describe how work is done. Level three is the test methods, work instructions and forms. Level four is the records that show what was done. All controlled documents carry a document code, version and approval date and are held in the document register.

• Level one: policy and quality manual
• Level two: procedures
• Level three: test methods, work instructions, forms and templates
• Level four: records including registers and laboratory notebooks

3.Responsibilities

The Laboratory Director has overall responsibility for the quality system and chairs management review. The Quality Manager maintains the system, schedules internal audits and reports on its performance. Section managers must ensure staff are trained and authorised for the methods they perform, and every staff member must record their work fully and report any deviation or nonconformance on the day it is found.

4.Quality objectives

Objectives are set annually at management review and monitored monthly. Current objectives cover first-time quality control pass rate, turnaround time, proficiency testing performance and the closure of corrective actions. Section managers must report their section's performance against each objective at the monthly quality meeting.

5.Validity of results

Every analytical batch must include the quality control samples specified in the method, including blanks, duplicates, spikes or reference materials. Results must not be released while a quality control sample is outside its limits unless the section manager has recorded a justification. Proficiency testing rounds will be entered for every accredited method group at least annually.

6.Review

This policy is reviewed at each annual management review and after any significant change to the standard, the accreditation scope or the organisation. Changes are approved by the Laboratory Director and communicated to all staff at the next section meeting.