Technical Assessor competence acknowledgement
As part of NATA’s proactive approach to ensuring the up-to-date skills and competence of our Technical Assessors, we have introduced new functionality on the NATA Member / Technical Assessors portal.
This portal confirmation helps us ensure that all assessment team members are equipped with the latest information and skills necessary for our operations.
Technical Assessors will be required to declare their ongoing competency every two years. This is an essential step to continue enhancing our accreditation services and to provide stakeholders with confidence in the integrity of our processes.
For additional information on how this process works, please contact NATA at accreditation@nata.com.au or on 1800 621 666.
Recommendations for Verification of Assays Performance – including Point of Care AACB
At the 2023 annual Human Pathology Accreditation Advisory Committee (HPAAC) meeting, an area of concern regarding verification of assays in the routine laboratory was identified as a significant source of non-conformity.
This included Clinical Chemistry, Haematology and Haemostasis and POCT. DATA provided at this meeting identified 60 major non-conformances and 11 minor non-conformances in 2022, half of these nonconformities were identified in a GX/GY laboratory. The areas identified included inconsistency in verification studies and inconsistency in the expectations of the Technical Assessors. These inconsistencies included:
Read more here
Detection of asbestos in mulch
Following the detection of asbestos in mulch, the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) have produced a publication explaining how to test mulch using the AS 4964 method.
You can view it here
