KAMPALA – The Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) has called upon laboratory owners and institutions to participate in inter-laboratory comparison to ensure accuracy of their results.
The unveiling was done during an online stakeholder engagement organized by UNBS to encourage the industry to register and participate in the scheme.
The Deputy Executive Director-Standards, Ms. Patricia Bageine Ejalu said that inter-laboratory comparisons are undertaken to verify that a laboratory provides correct results within the stated measurement uncertainty.
She added that the need for ongoing confidence in laboratory performance is not only essential for laboratories and their customers but also for other interested parties, such as regulators, laboratory accreditation bodies and other organizations that specify requirements for laboratories.
“Monitoring the quality of the analytical results, by using effective quality control tools, can help prevent good products being discarded and stop non-conforming products from being released to the market,” Ms. Ejalu said.
The scope of the second round covers matrices of Water, Non Carbonated Soft Drinks, UHT Milk, Coffee, Maize flour, Cosmetics, Paint, Electric cables, Steel, Cement and Calibration measurement fields of Pressure, Temperature and Mass.
Participation will be at a 50% discounted cost for Chemistry & Microbiology matrices, and a 25% discounted cost for Electrical & Materials Engineering matrices.
For participating laboratories, the potential benefits include;
- Confirming competent performance
- Identifying testing or measurement problems
- Comparing methods and procedures
- Improving performance
- Educating staff and instilling confidence in staff, management and external users of laboratory services
- Comparing operator capabilities
- Generating reference materials
- Determining method precision and accuracy
- Satisfying regulators and accreditation bodies, and;
- Providing laboratories with additional risk management
- Participating laboratories are required to register by downloading the registration form on the website.
