Oct 11 2011
The recently opened flagship Exova laboratory in Hillington, Glasgow, has achieved UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 for its water microbiological testing services.
The accreditation contains the requirement for managing quality within a laboratory and ensures that the facility has implemented a quality system that consistently produces valid testing results.
ISO/IEC 17025 defines that a laboratory has to demonstrate that its personnel are technically competent, the laboratory has the technical resources to produce reliable data and results and its management system meets the principles of ISO 9001. 
The Hillington laboratory was opened in June this year and specialises in various areas of environmental testing, including soil and water quality testing as well as waste and asbestos monitoring services, in addition to the newly accredited water microbiological testing.
Gordon Leishman, general manager, at Exova Hillington, said: "The accreditation plays a key role in our strategy to ensure that our testing and calibration work achieves the required level of quality. It's a further endorsement that the business is at the front of environmental analytical services across many sectors and continues to offer our clients an extensive range of testing that they can rely on to be effective and thorough."
The opening of the facility in Hillington enables Exova to test waters for a variety of microbiological contaminants including rapid legionella in Scotland for the very first time, a demand that has increased with the frequent additions to health and safety legislation.
The 20,818 sq ft laboratory has 36 employees and works with over 200 clients across the UK. The majority of work conducted by Exova in the environmental sector is with environmental consultancies, local government, developers and other agencies.
The testing allows Exova clients to demonstrate their compliance with regulatory requirements, determine the quality of natural resources and mitigate harmful effects of industrial and other waste on the environment.