The Edgewood Chemical Biological Center’s (ECBC) Environmental Monitoring Laboratory (EML) is a government (Army) laboratory that specializes in testing high volumes of a variety of sample matrices for Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA) that require fast turn-around-times.  In October 2014, the EML became the first government laboratory to meet the standards defined in the Department of Defense (DOD) Quality Systems Manual for testing Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA) (another first).<br/>Laboratories who provide testing in support of Defense Environmental Restoration Programs must be accredited in accordance with the DOD Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP). There are only approximately 90 laboratories that meet DOD ELAP. Nearly all of them of commercial laboratories.  Test services for CWA are in general not commercially available because of the limited availability of CWA reference materials required for quantitative testing and the associated health and safety hazards.  The EML is unique in the testing services it provides for an array of customers as a government laboratory.<br/>A presentation will describe the procedures associated with testing samples for CWA, project support examples, why the EML sought accreditation, major accreditation challenges, and how the EML has learned and benefited since obtaining and maintaining accreditation for almost 3 years now.<br/>

Overview of ECBC’s Environmental Monitoring Laboratory accreditation experience for testing Chemical Warfare Agents (CWA)

254th National Meeting (2017)

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