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ASBESTOS-CONTAINING MATERIAL IN SCHOOL BUILDINGS: BULK SAMPLE ANALYSIS QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM: BULK SAMPLE ROUNDS 16, 17, AND 18
Citation:
Starner, K., R. Perkins, B. Harvey, AND S. Westbrook. ASBESTOS-CONTAINING MATERIAL IN SCHOOL BUILDINGS: BULK SAMPLE ANALYSIS QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM: BULK SAMPLE ROUNDS 16, 17, AND 18. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/4-90/004.
Description:
This report presents the performance results of laboratories participating in the 16th, 17th, and 18th rounds of the Bulk Sample Analysis Quality Assurance Program sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ny commercial or noncommercial organization with facilities for polarized light microscope (PLM) analysis of bulk samples may have participated in the program. esults of commercial laboratories for each round were published in the report Commercial Laboratories with Polarized Light Microscope Capabilities for Bulk Asbestos Identification. he Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act of 1986 (AHERA), directed the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), formerly the National Bureau of Standards, to establish and maintain a laboratory accreditation program for bulk sample analysis of asbestos. o meet the intent of AHERA< EPA required laboratories interested in analyzing AHERA bulk samples to enroll in the EPA "Interim Laboratory Accreditation Program." he Interim Laboratory Accreditation Program operated for one year as a continuation of the EPA Bulk Sample Analysis Quality Assurance Program, and the criteria by which laboratories were evaluated were changed to accommodate the accreditation requirements imposed by AHERA. his program began in October 1988 by evaluating laboratories in the interim prior to the initiation of the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP) for bulk asbestos laboratories, sponsored by NIST. n the Interim Laboratory Accreditation Program, laboratories were accredited based on the correct classification of each of four bulk samples as to the presence or absence of asbestos, as well as the identification of and quantification of the type(s) of asbestos, if any, in each sample. ix hundred sixteen, 753, and 1,002 laboratories were active participants in Rounds 16, 17, and 18, respectively. n Round 17 and 18, 648 laboratories and 972 laboratories, respectively, received accredited status.