LE0490 : Uncertainty of Measurement and Method Validation in Accordance with ISO 17025

 This practical and highly-interactive course includes various practical sessions and exercises. Theory learnt will be applied using our state-of-the-art simulators. 

 

Statistical tools play an important role in GLP to calculate the Uncertainty Measurement. This course will focus on the latest techniques and standards developed to measure the uncertainty of the data. The Guideline for Uncertainty Measurement (GUM) will be introduced in a simple way. Every effort is made in this course to eliminate unnecessary complications, to apply the GUM at its simplest level and to take away apparent mystery. 

 

Participants who have never drawn up uncertainty budgets before usually develop the required skill well before the end of the course. Others who seek explanations of GUM complexities obtain clarifications expressed in simple terms. Measurement uncertainty problems are solved by brainstorming methods so as to generate interaction by all participants. 

 

The course will use the Statistical Process Control (SPC) module as a tool to validate the uncertainty measurement. It covers control charts and their applicability to uncertainty before covering a step-by-step process of calculating uncertainty for a typical application. Methods of reporting uncertainty, the uncertainty budget and applicable standards and guidelines for expressing measurement uncertainty are covered in some detail. Successful completion of this course will enable participants to understand, evaluate and express measurement uncertainty. 

Laboratories have a professional obligation to provide accurate and reliable analytical results to customers.  The Laboratory should justify the customer’s trust by providing the correct answer to the analytical part of the problem, in other words, results that have demonstrable ‘fitness for purpose’. Analytical method validation is one of the measure universally recognized by laboratory as a necessity for a comprehensive system of quality assurance. 

 

Method validation is the process that provides evidence that a given analytical method, when correctly applied, produces results that are fit for purpose.  No matter how well a method performs elsewhere, analysts need to confirm that the method is valid when applied in their laboratory.  There is now a much greater emphasis on method validation in the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation standard.  Through a number of workshops within this course, delegates build a validation protocol for a method of their choice. 

 

The ability to estimate measurement uncertainty is now a requirement of testing laboratories accredited to ISO/IEC 17025.  This course is in line with ISO principles and with the EURACHEM/CITAC guide. ‘Quantifying Uncertainty in Analytical Measurement’. The course will introduce the principles of evaluating uncertainty and the tools for identifying uncertainties and using validation data.  The course will take participants through the process of evaluating uncertainty.  Completion of this course should provide sufficient training to enable analysts to carry out an uncertainty evaluation for their own laboratory methods.