A General Approach to Accreditation of Environmental Laboratories in Turkey

Year 2018, Volume: 4 Issue: 2, 103 - 107, 27.06.2018

Perihan Akan Ozlem Muge Testik

Abstract

In this study, the accreditation of environmental parameters and types of laboratories
accredited by ISO 17025 Standard were compared. In Turkey, environmental
laboratories were classified as public, private and university laboratories.
Furthermore, environmental parameters considered in this study are water
quality parameters and air quality parameters. In current study, 43 water
quality parameters in university and 47 water quality parameters in public and
private institutions were examined with regard to accredited laboratories in
Turkey. Accredited water quality parameters in public and private institution
as different from universities are Total Solid, Ammonia/Ammonia Nitrogen, Total
Nitrogen, and Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen. As for air quality parameters, the
number of air quality parameters accredited in public and private institutions
is approximately twice as air parameters accredited in universities (42 and 26,
respectively). The most accredited water parameter is pH, with total of 65,
where 44 of them are private, 11 are public and 10 are university laboratories.
Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Suspended Solid (SS) are placed in the second
order with total of 56. Here, 39 private, 10 public and 7 university
laboratories are accredited in terms of COD and 40 private, 10 public and 6
university laboratories are accredited in terms of SS. Conductivity is next
remarkable parameter with total of 53 institutions (37 private, 8 public and 8
university laboratories). In air parameters, the most accredited one is the SO₂,
with total of 52 (49 private, 2 public and 1 university laboratory).

Keywords

Laboratory accreditation, environmental quality parameters, ISO 17025, quality management system

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