Proficiency Testing: A WorldWide Perspective

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Proficiency TestingA World-Wide Perspective
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The National Research Council of Canada (Halifax)
was contracted by CAEAL to

• Prepare a report on the key characteristics of
  Canadian and international proficiency testing
  (PT) programs.
• Identify compliance with ISO/IEC Guides 58, 25,
  and 43.
• Review the rigour and costs of CAEALs PT
  programs relative to others.

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Data Collection

• An independent contractor contacted over 100
  agencies.
• Responses were received from 51 organizations.
• Summaries were produced by the independent
  contractor.
• Data were summarized in two forms 1. By program
• 2. By specific test group

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Comparison of International Programs
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Conclusions from Program Comparisons

• Broad range of program requirements.
• Apparent similarities between organizations
  applying ISO/IEC Guides 25 and/or 58.
• CAEAL program fits with the norm but is one of
  the few which meet the requirement for a
  concentration range.

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CAEAL Versus Test Group Medians
Note Same as is defined as being within 10 of
the median value.
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Conclusions from Median Comparisons

• The norm is 4 rounds of 2 samples.
• CAEALs PT program has 2 rounds of 4 samples.
• CAEALs fees are
• gt above the norm in 2 test groups (PAHs and
  Pesticides in water)
• gt near the norm in 10 test groups (PAHs in soil
  metals in water)
• gt below the norm in 4 test groups (cyanide
  metals in filters pH TKN)

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Conclusion

• PT programs offered by accrediting agencies are
  quite diverse.
• The SCC-CAEAL program was found consistently to
  be among the high-quality PT programs, no matter
  which quality parameter was considered.
• An important quality parameter which could not be
  addressed in this Report is the relationship of
  the concentration(s) in the PT samples to
  pertinent regulatory limits.

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Conclusion

• In most cases, the direct (dollar) costs of the
  SCC-CAEAL PT programs lie close to the median
  values for all programs offering similar test
  groups.
• In two cases (PAHs in water, and pesticides in
  water), the SCC-CAEAL costs are significantly
  higher than the corresponding overall median
  values. These two cases require further
  investigation.