Quality infrastructure ensures accurate results

This is coming from Claire Durant, Project Coordinator for the Laboratory Quality Management Systems at the CARICOM Regional Organisation for Standards and Quality (CROSQ) who delivered remarks at the Workshop on ‘The Importance of Standards, Quality, and Accreditation’ at the Savannah Hotel recently.

 

“We want to ensure that the analytical laboratory and the medical laboratory, that they are giving you...accurate and reliable results. We want to make sure that it is correct each time.”

 

She said that quality infrastructure is made up of various elements and they work with both public and private institutions in this matter.

 

“So quality infrastructure refers to methodology, standardization and testing and quality management including certification and accreditation and as you work with quality infrastructure, it includes public and private institutions and the regulatory framework in which they operate.”

Conducting inspections is another critical procedure of ensure that products meet quality infrastructure, said Durant.

 

“Quality infrastructure refers to all aspects of metrology. Metrology is to do with measurements. So if we use the same example of biscuits and it says 250 grams in this packet of biscuits, somebody had to check to make sure that that is really 250 grams of biscuits. That is what metrology is all about”

 

The CROSQ Project Coordinator adhering to regulatory framework is also imperative and different countries would have their own licensing mechanisms.

 

 “When we say regulatory framework, different countries may have licensing mechanisms...or public policy, national health policy that governs what happens in their country and that is what we talk about when we refer to a regulatory framework.”

 

There are also various organizations that out testing on standards such as the International Standards Organization (ISO).

 

“On testing, we have three standards here listed. The ISO represents the International Standards Organization, an international organization which deals with standards. It makes standards for the entire world. There are other organizations which make standards for example; there is the Clinical Laboratory Institute which is in the United States. We have the joint European Commission.” (PJT)