written by Maree Stuart As we head into the silly season we are delighted to present: The MAS Management Systems 12 Days of a Lab Christmas! On the seventh day of Christmas, one of our test reports appeared in the newspaper when it was leaked to a journalist by a staff member You might regard this …read more »
written by Maree Stuart As we head into the silly season, we’re delighted to present: The MAS Management Systems 12 Days of a Lab Christmas! On the first day of Christmas, we found our procedures hadn’t been reviewed for 2 years. Lab documents provide essential guidelines and references for what we do. They allow us to …read more »
written by Maree Stuart Have you heard that in New Zealand, they’re legislating for laws to ensure that bureaucrats use plain language? You’re probably thinking, that would be nice, but how does it relate to me? Have you read an ISO standard or NATA accreditation document recently??? Apart from those ISO and NATA documents, we see …read more »
Imagine having all the documents you deal with in a week piled on your desk. If you were to include print outs of your work and personal emails the pile would probably be too high to see over! Clearly, you’re not going to do this (no time, waste of trees) but thinking about that pile …read more »
At MAS, we’ve been part of and carried out hundreds of NATA assessments. It doesn’t take long before you start to see a pattern. You begin to see the same issues emerging and learn just where a lab is going to come unstuck. Labs know that preparing for their assessment is critical. But labs are …read more »
We know you’re busy. For business owners or managers, there’s always plenty of juggling to be done. And with Covid restrictions thrown into the mix, you’d be forgiven for thinking that keeping an Accreditation Body happy is the last thing on your mind! However, we also know that keeping your business processes and procedures up …read more »
You’ve received the notification. Your assessment is coming up in two weeks and the team will be arriving at 8:30am on the day. Deep cleansing breaths. With a bit of preparation, assessment day may not be a breeze, but you’ll definitely feel in control. Being prepared shows your assessment team that your organisation is professional …read more »
Happy New Year!! While a new financial year probably won’t see you popping champagne and singing Auld Lang Syne (unless you moonlight as an Accountant) it’s still an important time of year. For those very organised folks who regularly scan and file their receipts and make notes about expenses, end of financial year tax returns …read more »
In our previous article we looked at documents and in particular, what makes good ones. Good documentation forms the essential guidelines for operations in your lab. But your documentation system isn’t just a ‘set and forget’. They require reviewing, updating and managing to ensure they’re accurate, up-to-date, and available. And that’s where a document control …read more »
No matter what your area of expertise, all scientists and engineers know the importance of documentation. Lab documents allow you to review your activities. They help you to train your staff. Excellent documentation provides proof of accurate, reliable testing not just to clients but also to external accreditation or audit bodies. In fact, the management …read more »
You are an expert in your lab. You know your procedures and can carry these out with your eyes closed (although from a safety perspective we hope this isn’t happening!). Once you’ve carried out your activity, you can put that information into your data collection device and that spits out your lab report. Or perhaps …read more »