Quality assurance and control (QA/QC)
Quality assurance (QA) focuses on the process of the analysis at the purpose of preventing and/or limiting the occurrence of errors in the measurement.
Quality control (QC) is a set of activities or techniques aiming to ensure that all quality requirements are being met. The continuous monitoring of laboratory operations and results is essential to decide whether the results are reliable enough to be released.
Quality control can be internal or external
- Internal quality control is a set of procedure undertaken by laboratories to monitor their operations and results.
- External quality control (also called “proficiency testing” or “inter-laboratory comparison”) is a periodic assessment of the performance of individual laboratories and groups of laboratories. The assessment is done by an independent testing body like GLOSOLAN through the distribution of typical materials for unsupervised analysis by the participants. Proficiency testing is used as a tool to asses and enhance standards of the analysis, and assist in the standardisation of soil analytical methods across laboratories leading to more reliable and interoperable soil data. Laboratories can use the results obtained in the PT to identify areas where improvements may need to occur.
Publications
First Inter-laboratory comparison report of the Regional Soil Laboratory Network For Asia (SEALNET)
01/01/2019
The Global Soil Laboratory Network (GLOSOLAN) was formally established under the framework of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) in November 2017, when...
Global Soil Laboratory Network: Basic guidelines on how to produce a soil sample for proficiency testing
01/01/2020
Evidence-based decisions are central to the achievement of sustainable soil management (SSM), which in turn is critical to the achievement food security...
