October 10-20, 2009 ILAC/IAF 2009 Conference Vancouver, BC

The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) is a nonprofit, non-governmental, public service, membership society. The mission of A2LA is to provide comprehensive services in laboratory accreditation and laboratory-related training. Services are available to any type of organization, be it private or government. Laboratory accreditation is based on internationally accepted criteria for competence (ISO/IEC 17025:2005). A2LA also offers programs for accreditation of inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, reference material producers and product certification bodies.
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Goals: The fundamental goals of A2LA are to:

• Achieve customer satisfaction through meeting the needs of both laboratories and their users for competent testing and calibration;
• Improve the quality of laboratories and the data they produce; and
• Increase acceptance of accredited laboratory data to facilitate trade.

Recognition: A2LA is a signatory to several bilateral and multilateral recognition agreements. These agreements facilitate the acceptance of test and calibration data between A2LA-accredited laboratories and 46 economies around the globe. In addition, A2LA has recognition from over 30 federal, state and local government agencies, companies and associations. These partners recognize the competence, quality of service and cost effectiveness of A2LA.

Laboratory Accreditation Programs: Laboratories are accredited in the following fields: Acoustics & Vibration, Biological, Calibration, Chemical, Construction Materials, Electrical, Environmental, Geotechnical, Information Technology, Mechanical, Nondestructive, and Thermal. In addition to these broad fields, specifically-tailored programs are available for animal drugs, automotive electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), environmental lead (Pb), fertilizers, food testing, and putting green materials testing. Users of laboratory services are advised to seek the specific scope of accreditation from any accredited laboratory or to visit our searchable directory of accredited laboratories on the A2LA website. The scope identifies the specific testing or calibration capabilities for which the laboratory is accredited.

Training: Periodic public training courses are offered on topics such as laboratory accreditation and the international standard ISO/IEC 17025, laboratory quality management, internal auditing, assessor training, and measurement uncertainty.

New/Revised Documents