DHI Singapore’s environmental laboratory emerges top scorer in ISO audit
In a Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC) benchmark study on laboratory performance, DHI Singapore has emerged the top scorer among 25 laboratories in the field of environmental testing, with zero non-conformity against ISO 17025 clauses.
While we have received the ISO/IEC 17025 certification of accreditation since 2012, this is the first time SAC has released the audit results, which compares our performance against that of our competitors. ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard in testing and calibration, for which laboratories must hold accreditation in order to be deemed technically competent. The disparity of performances is considerable, with laboratories scoring between 1.07 and 4.76 out of the total possible score of 5.00.
The scope of our accreditation covered the areas of chemistry testing – which analyses water quality parameters such as nutrients and heavy metals – as well as biological testing, which includes plankton analysis. The scores were computed based on two components – a combination of 80% assessment findings according to a comprehensive ISO checklist and 20% assessor's evaluation, which is determined by the lead assessor's overall impression gathered from staff interviews and observations.
'To make sure that we meet our customer's needs, we develop and deliver our services under our advanced business management system', says Paul Reimer, Head of Environmental Laboratory, DHI Singapore. 'This system is certified to be in accordance with the international standard for quality management – ISO9001.'
'That DHI's accredited laboratory services in Singapore now has the best score in the survey only supports the vision of delivering services of the best quality to our customers.' Paul adds.
Singapores' environmental laboratory mainly supports nationwide DHI projects, but it also carries out testing for external commercial entities such as fish farms and shipyards.
The ISO accreditation is a formal recognition of our competence and quality in the field of environmental testing. We are now working towards achieving the same level of accreditation in our sampling capabilities.
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