Monitoring the work of the test laboratory by participating in the proficiency testing program in the field of the laser performance measurements

Abstract

Monitoring the validity result is the critical requirement of the international standard ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for test and calibration laboratories to provide objective evidence of their technical competence. Applying the interlaboratory comparison, using alternative instrumentation that has been calibrated, functional checks of measuring and testing equipment, and other methods for monitoring the validity of results is not enough to have confidence in the quality of test results. Modern standards in the field of quality for test and calibration laboratories require applying other forms for assessing the characteristics of the used test method. Particularly, it concerns the participation in interlaboratory comparisons. One of the tools that could be used for monitoring the validity result is comparing laboratory test results with the results that are obtained by other laboratories, e.g. proficiency testing. This paper presents the result of a proficiency testing program for laser performance measurements that was organized by the International provider IFM Quality Services PTY Ltd. in 2021. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the results of the participation of the SE “Ukrmetrteststandard” in proficiency testing of measuring laser performance, to reveal the correlation of the results comparing with the previous years and different tasks and to assess the possible causes of outliers. Twenty-two laboratories that had been accredited by the ISO/IEC 17025 standard participated in the proficiency testing. The results were evaluated using the Z-score as the performance criterion. Potential risks of proficiency testing with a small number of participants and possible causes of results outliers were assessed.