Knowella

Laboratory Environmental Check

Checks laboratory conditions that affect results, covering temperature, humidity, cleanliness, segregation and media storage. Run daily or weekly. Completed by laboratory staff. A micro laboratory next to production with shared airflow contaminates its own results.

KnowQualityChecklistQUA-086
Completed by
laboratory staff
Raised
At the point in the process the check protects, every time

Summary

In short

  • A laboratory environmental check is a checklist used in KnowQuality that checks laboratory conditions that affect results, covering temperature, humidity, cleanliness, segregation and media storage. It is built against ISO 17025 cl.6.3 and forms part of the Laboratory and Testing programme.
  • Run daily or weekly. Completed by laboratory staff.
  • The template holds 42 fields across 6 sections.
  • Scoring is pass rate, where high is good.
  • ISO 17025 is testing and calibration laboratory competence. What a laboratory must demonstrate to be accredited for the tests it reports.
  • It connects to the rest of the library: links Method verification.

What it is

What it is

What is a laboratory environmental check?

A laboratory environmental check is a checklist used in KnowQuality that checks laboratory conditions that affect results, covering temperature, humidity, cleanliness, segregation and media storage. It is built against ISO 17025 cl.6.3 and forms part of the Laboratory and Testing programme.

When is a laboratory environmental check completed?

A laboratory environmental check is completed at the point in the process the check protects, every time that process runs. Run daily or weekly.

When to use it

When to use it, and when not to

This checklist is one step in a larger programme. Using it for work that belongs to a neighbouring template produces records that are hard to report on later.

Use it for

  • The event or activity this checklist covers has occurred, or is about to
  • The workspace is being set up, or the register needs an entry added or retired
  • You are running the Laboratory and Testing programme and this is one of its steps
  • A linked record needs this one to exist: links method verification

Not for

  • Laboratory Sample Log, which logs every sample taken for testing, with what it is, why it was taken and where it went.
  • Microbiological Result Record, which records a micro result against its specification, with the action taken where it is out.
  • Chemical and Compositional Result Record, which records analytical results for composition, additives, contaminants or nutritional claims.
  • Anything outside KnowQuality, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process

Standards

What it is built against

ISO 17025Testing and calibration laboratory competence

What a laboratory must demonstrate to be accredited for the tests it reports.

ISOInternational Organization for Standardization

A voluntary international standard. Widely adopted, often required by customers, and certifiable where a management system standard.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the laboratory environmental check template based on?+

It is built against ISO 17025 cl.6.3. ISO 17025 is testing and calibration laboratory competence. What a laboratory must demonstrate to be accredited for the tests it reports. ISO is international Organization for Standardization. A voluntary international standard. Widely adopted, often required by customers, and certifiable where a management system standard.

What sections does the laboratory environmental check contain?+

There are 6 sections: header, separation and access, conditions, consumables and cleanliness, related records, result. Together they hold 42 fields, 35 of which are required.

How many laboratory environmental check records should we have?+

This is a singleton. One record per workspace, set up once and maintained, rather than one per event. Other templates refer back to it.

Which programme does the laboratory environmental check belong to?+

It is part of Laboratory and Testing. Results you can defend, and retesting governed by a protocol written before the retest.

How is a laboratory environmental check scored?+

Scoring is pass rate. High is good. Scores exist to make the form tell you something, not to produce a percentage for its own sake.

Can the laboratory environmental check template be changed?+

Yes. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it. Most teams install it as it is, run it for a cycle, then adjust.

The agents

What the agents do with it

The form is the easy part. Keeping it current, routing it to the right owner and holding the evidence together is the work that actually slips.

KnowQuality

Holds the laboratory environmental check library against your registers, routes each record to its owner, and keeps the evidence trail together.

Ella

Coordinates the crew, rolls completion and exceptions into one view, and holds every write for your approval before it touches a record.

This template lives in KnowQualityquality and food safety. HACCP, nonconformance, traceability, laboratory and customer complaints.

Sources

Sources

  • ISO 17025 — Testing and calibration laboratory competence
  • ISO — International Organization for Standardization

KnowQuality

Also in Laboratory

6Browse the whole library
Record

Laboratory Sample Log

Logs every sample taken for testing, with what it is, why it was taken and where it went. Completed at the point of sampling. Kept by whoever sampled. Samples with no context produce results nobody can act on.

Record

Microbiological Result Record

Records a micro result against its specification, with the action taken where it is out. Completed when the result arrives. Reviewed by quality. Results arriving after the product has shipped need a different response from results arriving before.

Record

Chemical and Compositional Result Record

Records analytical results for composition, additives, contaminants or nutritional claims. Completed on receipt of the result. Reviewed by technical. Label claims that cannot be evidenced by analysis are a regulatory exposure as much as a quality one.

Record

Laboratory Method Verification

Verifies that a test method performs as expected in your hands, on your matrix, before results are relied on. Carried out on introduction and after change. Completed by the laboratory lead. A validated method used badly still gives wrong answers.

Record

Proficiency Testing Record

Records participation in a ring trial or proficiency scheme and how the result compared with the consensus. Run at the scheme interval. Completed by the laboratory lead. An outlying result is a finding about the laboratory, not the scheme.

Assessment

External Laboratory Approval

Assesses a contract laboratory for accreditation scope, turnaround, reporting and how it handles out of specification results. Carried out before use and reviewed yearly. Completed by quality. Accreditation covers named methods, not everything the laboratory offers.

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