What our AIHA Accreditation Means

General (Sampling, IH Resources, Equipment)

You may have noticed the line on our masthead - "AIHA-accredited since 1976." But do you know what that means?

AIHA, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, has stood for integrity in industrial hygiene for more than 50 years. This organization grants accreditation only to those laboratories that have successfully completed the application process. This process begins with an AIHA review of a written application from the laboratory describing the lab’s staff, facilities and quality control programs.

If the application is deemed acceptable, an AIHA site auditor will visit the lab in person to perform a detailed inspection of the laboratory personnel, analytical standard operating procedures, reporting formats and quality assurance programs. A written report is then sent to the AIHA Industrial Hygiene Laboratory Accreditation Committee (IHLAC), along with past scores from the AIHA Proficiency Analytical Testing (PAT) program. Participation in this quarterly program is a requirement for accreditation. The committee will then make a recommendation to the AIHA Analytical Accreditation Board (AAB), which ultimately approves or denies accreditation.

Once accredited, the laboratory must remain proficient in the PAT program and report any changes in key personnel or laboratory location to the IHLAC for approval.

It doesn’t stop there - every three years the laboratory must complete a new application and go through the entire accreditation process all over again.

We hope this explains our pride in using the new AIHA accreditation logo - you’ll be seeing it soon on our reports. and remember - we’re here to help. If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to call.