Pennsylvania DEP’s Laws Relating to NELAP and the Use of Non-Governmental Accreditation Bodies

Operational and Advocacy Issues Impacting the Environmental Laboratory Industry
Oral Presentation

Prepared by A. Alger
Dept of Environmental Protection / Bureau of Laboratories, PO Box 1467, 2575 Interstate Drive, Harrisburg, PA, 17110, United States


Contact Information: aaalger@pa.gov; 717-346-8212


ABSTRACT

The Pennsylvania Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Act (“ELAA”) of 2002 established the PA-DEP’s authority to offer and require accreditation of environmental laboratories performing DEP compliance testing. The 2002 Lab Act established the Department’s commitment to seeking and maintaining its recognition as a NELAP-recognized Accreditation Body (“AB”) and thereby securing the Department’s commitment to NELAP and accepting secondary accreditations of other NELAP-recognized ABs. The ELAA mandates that the PA-DEP may only reciprocate accreditation from other governmental agencies. This session will explore the PA-DEP’s and other State agencies’ laws related to the recognition or acceptance of accreditations granted by non-governmental entities. The session will also discuss some of PA-DEP’s more recent enforcement cases when inappropriate activities are discovered during investigations, on-site assessments, and data audits and the Program’s allocation of resources from an operational, technical, and administrative perspective.