SimpleLab: Laboratory Certifications Explained

Laboratory certification in the environmental testing industry is both important and complex. Here, we provide an overview of how laboratory accreditation and certification work and how to confirm a laboratory facility’s current accreditation status.

Laboratory Certification and Accreditation

All SimpleLab testing services are powered by a network of laboratories accredited by various agencies and private bodies. All accreditations and certifications follow the same international standard, ISO 17025, to ensure laboratories have an acceptable quality management system in place.

ISO/IEC 17025 defines requirements for technical competence, impartiality, and consistency in laboratory operations, ensuring the accuracy and reliability of testing and calibration results.

Certifications can be on the national level or provided by various state agencies. Nearly all SimpleLab testing methods are based on recognized protocols, including EPA, Standard Methods, ASTM, AOAC, NIOSH and other nationally recognized agencies and organizations. These published methods cover all types of matrices from water, soil, food, air, and building material.

Environmental Laboratory Certification Bodies

There are two main sources of environmental laboratory certification in the United States: national level programs and state-specific laboratory certification programs (often referred to as ELAP programs). Unfortunately, there is no single certification program that applies to every state, so there are two main ways to look them up.

NELAC, NELAP, and TNI

The NELAC Institute (TNI) manages the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, or NELAP. The purpose of this program is to establish and implement a standardized system for accrediting environmental laboratories. Currently, 14 states participate in the NELAP program.

NELAP relies on consensus standards representing the best professional practices in the industry to establish requirements. These requirements are then implemented by state agencies recognized by TNI as Accreditation Bodies.

• TNI Standard Volume 1 outlines requirements for laboratories and is modeled after ISO/IEC 17025:2017 (“General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories”).
• TNI Standard Volume 2 describes the requirements for Accreditation Bodies (ABs), based on ISO/IEC 17011:2017 (“Conformity Assessment: General Requirements for Accreditation Bodies Accrediting Conformity Assessment Bodies”).
• Volumes 3 and 4 cover the proficiency testing components of NELAP.

The fastest way to search for accredited environmental testing laboratories in the U.S. is to use the TNI LAMS Lab Search Tool. 

• You can search for laboratories directly by matrix, method, analyte, location, laboratory name, and accreditation body.
• When you find the lab(s) you’re looking for, you can proceed to the “View Lab” page to see more details about that laboratory’s facilities and accreditations. 
• By clicking on “Fields of Accreditation,” you can view precisely which matrices, methods, and analytes the lab is accredited to test.

State Specific Certification

For the 36 remaining states, you have to cross-reference the state of interest and then look up the Fields of Accreditation for a specific laboratory in the same way you would for a NELAC-certified lab.  

The EPA maintains a directory of state certification programs for drinking water laboratories. While this resource is drinking-water focused, the listed state agencies typically also oversee accreditation for other environmental matrices (such as soil, food, and non-potable water). As a result, this directory can serve as a useful starting point for locating the appropriate state agency and its broader environmental laboratory certification program:

Contact Information for Certification Programs and Certified Laboratories for Drinking Water | US EPA

Note: Some states have separate agencies for different matrices. Be sure to consult the agency responsible for the type of testing relevant to your needs.

EPA Certification

EPA Certification is a common misconception among first-time users of environmental laboratory testing services. Labs are rarely ever directly accredited by the US EPA. In the majority of cases, the US EPA has given such powers directly to state government organizations. Each state then decides how environmental labs must be accredited in order to perform compliance testing in their state. 

Other Laboratory Certifications: ISO, A2LA, PJLA, etc.

There are a handful of other national private certification companies which a lab may hold, including: 

• American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA)
• American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)
• Perry Johnson Laboratory Accreditation, Inc (PJLA)

There are also government run certification firms like the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), which is specific to asbestos certification. 

These third-parties act as both auditors of the laboratory’s quality systems and issuers of certifications and Fields of Testing to the ISO 17025 standard. In many cases, these third parties will also audit a laboratory on behalf of a state agency.

Each of these other accrediting agencies require maintaining rigorous standards and proficiency testing similar to NELAP in order to remain in good standing. SimpleLab laboratories also include many of these types of accredited facilities. 

Questions? Contact Us

If you have questions about specific certification methods, or SimpleLab’s work with certified laboratories, please contact us (hello@gosimplelab.com) and we’ll be happy to provide further details.