What this is
What is laboratory skills training?
What is laboratory skills training?
A record that an analyst has been taught, and separately shown to be able to do, the tasks that determine whether a result reflects the product or an error in how it was sampled and handled: aseptic technique, sample point selection, chain of custody, holding times, method following, and OOS reporting. It is built against ISO/IEC 17025 clause 6.2.
Who should deliver laboratory skills training?
The laboratory lead, or someone they delegate the practical assessment to. The person running this course needs to be able to judge whether a swab was taken correctly, not just whether the trainee sat through the slides, because the practical observation is what actually protects the result.
How is this different from method verification?
Method verification confirms a test method performs as claimed, on a bench, before routine use. This training confirms a person can follow that method and take a representative sample without introducing contamination or delay. A verified method run by an untrained analyst still produces an unreliable result.
Scope
When is a laboratory skills training required?
This training 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 this template when
- A new analyst joins, or an existing analyst changes role into sampling or testing duties
- A competency period is due to expire and the analyst needs re-assessing against the same content
- An OOS result is traced to a sampling or handling error, and retraining is the corrective action
- The competency matrix needs a new entry, or an existing entry needs its evidence refreshed
- A linked record needs this one to exist: links sample log, method verification
Do not use it for
- Laboratory Method Verification, which confirms a specific test method performs as claimed, a bench exercise rather than a personnel skills course.
- Out of Specification Investigation, which investigates an actual OOS result once it has occurred, rather than testing whether staff can report one.
- Good Manufacturing Practice Training, which covers hygiene, clothing, jewellery and behaviour in production areas, not laboratory sampling technique.
- Laboratory Sample Log, which records the individual sample taken and its chain of custody, rather than the competence of the person who took it.
- Anything outside KnowTrain, which belongs in the workspace that owns that process
Compliance mapping
Which ISO 17025 cl.6.2 requirements does this satisfy?
ISO/IEC 17025 treats personnel competence as a defined, evidenced requirement, and clause 7 ties several technical duties, sampling, handling of items, nonconforming work, directly to whether the person carrying them out has been shown to be capable.
| Clause | Requirement | Where it lands |
|---|---|---|
| ISO 17025 cl.6.2.2 | Personnel competence defined against documented requirements: education, qualification, training, technical knowledge and demonstrated skill | Content covered |
| ISO 17025 cl.7.3 | Sampling carried out to a defined procedure, with sample point selection and technique reasoned rather than habitual | Practical |
| ISO 17025 cl.7.4 | Handling of test items protects integrity: identification, labelling, chain of custody, transport and holding time | Content covered |
| ISO 17025 cl.7.10 | Nonconforming work identified and controlled, with significance evaluated rather than resolved by uncontrolled retesting | Content covered |
| ISO 17025 cl.6.2.6 | Competence monitored on an ongoing basis, not confirmed once and assumed to persist | Knowledge check |
| ISO 17025 cl.6.2.5 | Personnel authorised for specific activities, including sampling and evaluating results, before performing them unsupervised | Outcome |
| ISO 17025 cl.6.2.4 | Procedures and records retained for training, supervision and the basis for authorisation | Attendance |
What it does not cover
- Laboratory Sample Log, which records the specific sample taken, its ID and chain of custody, not the trainee's ability to take one correctly.
- Laboratory Method Verification, a bench exercise confirming a method performs as claimed, independent of who is trained to run it.
- Out of Specification Investigation, which investigates a real OOS result once it happens; this training only checks staff can report one.
- Competency Matrix, the standing register of who is authorised for what; this training updates an entry but is not the register itself.
- Microbiological Result Record and Chemical and Compositional Result Record, which capture the outcome of testing, not analyst skill.
Global
Laboratory Skills Training requirements by country
Laboratory accreditation is contractual and voluntary almost everywhere, so the duty to evidence personnel competence sits in the accreditation standard rather than in statute.
Accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 via bodies such as A2LA or ANAB; sector rules such as NELAC for environmental laboratories layer on top
No general federal statute mandates 17025 accreditation; it is required by customers, contracts, or sector-specific regulation.
An assessor reviewing personnel files asks for this evidence, and a training log with no practical sign-off is a documented finding at reassessment.
UKAS accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025
Accreditation is the route to being recognised as competent to issue results relied on by others, including regulators in some sectors.
UKAS assessors sample personnel records against clause 6.2 directly, and a course with no documented practical observation is unevidenced competence.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017
The global baseline for laboratory competence, adopted by accreditation bodies in most jurisdictions with only minor national variation.
A laboratory operating to this standard anywhere is judged against the same clause 6.2 requirements, so the record has to travel.
How to complete it
How to complete a laboratory skills training, step by step
The form prompts for content, delivery and a score. The judgement calls that decide whether the record protects a result sit outside those prompts.
Content covered, delivery quality, practical and knowledge check are four sections for a reason. A site under time pressure tends to complete the first two thoroughly and rubber-stamp the last two, producing a record showing a course happened without showing anyone can do the job it describes.
Sampling Observed and Technique Correct are scored fields, and they are only meaningful if someone actually watched the trainee take a sample. A trainer who fills these in from memory of the classroom session has produced a record identical to a genuine one that protects nothing.
The Outcome section updates the competency matrix. That update is the actual gate: it is what stops an unauthorised person taking a sample. A completed record that never reaches the matrix leaves the previous authorisation standing, silently, regardless of how the course went.
Never Retest To Get A Better Answer is scored separately from method-following for a reason. An analyst can follow a method correctly and still retest an unwelcome result out of habit, and folding the two together lets a site pass someone who has not internalised the retest discipline.
What auditors find
Most common laboratory skills training findings
Findings here concern whether the practical and knowledge components actually happened, and whether a pass changed anything downstream.
| Finding | Clause | What fixes it |
|---|---|---|
| Analyst authorised to sample independently with no documented practical observation on file. | ISO 17025 cl.6.2.5 | Gate authorisation on a completed, signed Practical section, not on attendance at the content session. |
| Knowledge check pass mark not recorded, so a pass cannot be distinguished from a course marked complete. | ISO 17025 cl.6.2.6 | Record the pass mark percentage and the actual result against it, not a binary trained flag. |
| Retraining flagged as required with no follow-up record showing it was delivered. | ISO 17025 cl.6.2.4 | Link a flagged retraining requirement to a new training record and close it there. |
| Competency matrix not updated after the training record was marked complete. | ISO 17025 cl.6.2.5 | Update the matrix ID the same session the record closes, before sampling resumes. |
| OOS reporting content delivered, but the never-retest question is missing or unscored. | ISO 17025 cl.7.10 | Score Never Retest To Get A Better Answer independently; treat a fail as a hold on authorisation. |
| Course delivered with generic examples only, no site-specific sample points referenced. | ISO 17025 cl.6.2.2 | Require Site Specific Examples Used to be Yes before the record is signed off complete. |
Case in point
Case in point: the positive that was never in the product
A dairy laboratory recorded an unexpected positive on a routine environmental swab. The result triggered a full investigation: production records pulled, the line stopped, three days of stock held pending clearance. Nothing in the process had changed and no other indicator supported contamination, but the investigation ran its full course before being closed as unexplained.
A later review found the analyst who took the swab had completed this course eight months earlier, with the practical section signed off by a colleague who had not actually observed the sampling. The technique used introduced contamination from the swab handle. The result was real and the product was not, and three days of production were held for an error that lived entirely in how the sample was taken.
The template
The template, field by field
The form exactly as it installs. Every field, option, score and conditional rule is editable, and the links to other templates come with it.
7 sections
- Reference
- TRN-077
- Archetype
- Training
- Record ID
- TRN-2026-000
- Scoring
- Knowledge check score
- Direction
- High is good
- Singleton
- Yes
- Basis
- ISO 17025 cl.6.2
- Links
- Links Sample log, Method verification
- Tags
- Training, Laboratory
- Sections
- 7
- Fields
- 50
- Follow up fields
- 3
- Repeating sections
- 1
- Links out
- 5
Header
10 fieldsTraining ID*
Auto sequence. Format TRN-2026-0000.
The record's own ID. Other templates point at this value.
Status*
Drives who this goes to next.
- Planned2 pts
- In progress2 pts
- Complete3 pts
- Deferred0 pts
- Open0 pts
- Closed3 pts
- Overdue0 pts
Date and Time*
Completed By*
Site*
Site ID*
Format SITE-000.
Links to FDN-001 Site ID
Course*
Delivered By*
Duration Minutes*
Sampling Errors Look Like Process Failures
A badly taken swab produces a positive that was never in the product, and a whole investigation chases something that did not happen.
Content covered
8 fieldsAseptic Technique Demonstrated*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Sample Point Selection Explained*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Labelling And Chain Of Custody*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Holding Times And Transport Explained*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Method Following Explained*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Recording Results Explained*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Out Of Specification Reporting Explained*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Never Retest To Get A Better Answer*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Delivery quality
6 fieldsDelivered In Understood Language*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Site Specific Examples Used*
- Yes3 pts
- Generic only0 pts
Practical Element Included*
- Yes3 pts
- Demonstration only1 pt
- None0 pts
Questions Invited And Answered*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Materials Issued*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Delivered Before The Work Started*
- Yes3 pts
- Same day1 pt
- After0 pts
Practical
3 fieldsSampling Observed*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Technique Correct*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Documentation Complete*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Attendance
Repeats6 fieldsAttendee*
Person ID
Links to FDN-003 Person ID
Attended Full Session*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Participated*
- Actively3 pts
- Some2 pts
- None1 pt
Understanding Confirmed*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Signature*
Knowledge check
6 fieldsCan Take A Swab Aseptically*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Knows The Holding Time*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Knows Who To Call On A Positive*
- Yes3 pts
- Partly1 pt
- No0 pts
Pass Mark Percent*
Attendees Passed*
Retraining Required For Any*
- Yes2 pts
- No0 pts
- N/Aexcluded from denominator
Outcome
11 fieldsCompetency Matrix Updated*
- Yes3 pts
- No0 pts
Matrix ID
Links to TRN-020 Matrix ID
Refresher Due*
Action Required*
Raise the action record, then enter its reference here.
- No2 pts
- Yes0 pts
Priority
- High0 pts
- Medium1 pt
- Low3 pts
CAPA ID
Format CAPA-2026-00000.
Links to FDN-014 CAPA ID
Action Owner
Laboratory Lead*
Signature*
Supervisor*
Second Signature*
TRN-077 · record IDs look like TRN-2026-000 · Links Sample log, Method verification
Open in KnowellaRun it with agents
From a document you fill in to a programme that runs itself
The form is the easy part. Keeping it current and routing it to the right owner is the work that actually slips.
Holds the laboratory skills training library against your registers, routes each record to its owner, and keeps the evidence trail together.
Ties the competency matrix update to the laboratory activities an analyst is authorised for, so training and authorisation do not drift apart.
Surfaces expiring competency periods against the accreditation cycle, so retraining happens before an assessor finds the gap.
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 KnowTrain — training and credentials. Induction, competency, toolbox talks, refreshers and expiry tracking.
Meet KnowTrain→Glossary
Laboratory Skills Training definitions and key terms
- Aseptic technique
- A sampling method that avoids introducing contamination from the sampler, equipment or environment, so the result reflects the product tested.
- Chain of custody
- The unbroken record of who held a sample and when, from collection to result, which makes a result traceable back to a specific event.
- Holding time
- The maximum period between taking a sample and testing it within which the result remains representative of that moment.
- Out of specification (OOS)
- A result falling outside the defined acceptance criteria, which triggers an investigation before any decision to retest or reject.
- Competency matrix
- The register of which staff are authorised for which laboratory activities, updated by, but distinct from, training records.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about laboratory skills training
What is the laboratory skills training template based on?+
It is built against ISO 17025 cl.6.2. ISO 17025 is testing and calibration laboratory competence, what a laboratory must demonstrate to be accredited for the tests it reports. ISO is the International Organization for Standardization, a voluntary international standard, widely adopted and often required by customers.
What sections does the laboratory skills training contain?+
There are 7 sections: header, content covered, delivery quality, practical, attendance, knowledge check, outcome. They hold 50 fields, 44 required.
How many laboratory skills training records should we have?+
This is a singleton. One record per workspace, set up once and maintained, not one per event. Attendance repeats within it for each person trained.
Which programme does the laboratory skills training belong to?+
It is part of Laboratory and Testing and Statutory Safety Training. The outcome sought is results you can defend, with retesting governed by a protocol written before the retest, not decided when a result is disliked.
Why does the form separate a practical observation from the knowledge check?+
Because they test different things. The knowledge check confirms the analyst can state the correct answer. The practical confirms they can take a sample aseptically. A course that only tests the first produces analysts who know the theory and still contaminate a swab.
Can the laboratory skills training 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 is, run it a cycle, then adjust.
Keep going
Related templates and programmes
Industries this is written for
Programmes this belongs to
Used together in Laboratory and Testing
Maintenance Calibration Record
Records calibration of maintenance instruments such as torque wrenches, pressure gauges and multimeters
Calibration Record
Records the calibration of a piece of test equipment, including standard used, result and next due date
Laboratory Sample Log
Logs every sample taken for testing, with what it is, why it was taken and where it went
Microbiological Result Record
Records a micro result against its specification, with the action taken where it is out
Chemical and Compositional Result Record
Records analytical results for composition, additives, contaminants or nutritional claims
Laboratory Method Verification
Verifies that a test method performs as expected in your hands, on your matrix, before results are relied on
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Written and reviewed by
Siddarth Singh
Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Knowella
Certified Safety Professional and industrial and systems engineer with more than a decade inside food supply chain, freight and manufacturing operations. This page was written against the current text of the standards it cites, not against secondary summaries of them.
- Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Board of Certified Safety Professionals
- MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
- MS and BS, The Ohio State University, Industrial and Systems Engineering
- Six Sigma Black Belt
Sources and last review. Reviewed 16 August 2026 against:
- ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clause 6.2 — Personnel
- ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clauses 7.3 and 7.4 — Sampling; Handling of test or calibration items
- ISO/IEC 17025:2017 clause 7.10 — Nonconforming work
- ISO — International Organization for Standardization
This page is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your jurisdiction’s regulator.