Requirements for Laboratory Certification/Certification Manual

This page contains the following requirements for certification:

• Proficiency testing requirements
• Certification manual
• Statutes and Regulations

Proficiency testing requirements

In order to become ELAP certified, your laboratory must demonstrate proficiency for all requested analytes listed in Certification Manual Item 316 below.  

For continuing accreditation, achieve passing scores in at least two (2) of three (3) consecutive proficiency tests (PT). The PT study close dates successive PT samples for a field of accreditation must be at least five (5) months apart and no longer than seven (7) months apart from the prior study.

Also, at least one of the scores must be less than six (6) months old. Corrective action or supplemental PTs must be at least seven (7) days from the close date of the prior study.

Therefore, you may take any combination of the following actions:

1. Request that the TNI Accredited providers send test scores from analyses performed within the previous eighteen (18) months on samples directly to the ELAP Office.
2. Purchase samples of each requested Field of Proficiency Testing compound from one of the TNI Accredited providers and have the provider submit your scores directly to the ELAP Office.
3. Wait until the analytes are tested in the next regularly scheduled NYS DOH Wadsworth Center PT Program study found in Item 310 of the Certification Manual.

Scores (evaluation reports) are required to be released within twenty-one (21) days after the study's close date. Changes to a lab's accreditation status are acted on within 60 calendar days of the release date of the test scores to the ELAP Office.

Certification Manual

General Information Items 100 - 176

• Item No. 110 - Legal Requirements
• Item No. 130 - Application Process and General Requirements
• Item No. 132 - Restrictions on the Use of Certification
• Item No. 135 - Accreditation of Mobile Laboratories: Definitions and Criteria of Approval
• Item No. 140 - Personnel Requirements
• Item No. 150 - Denial, Suspension and Revocation of Approval
• Item No. 175 - Instructions for Reporting Total Adjusted Volumes
• Item No. 176  - Record Retention

Fields of Accreditation Items 180 - 180.8

• Item No. 180 - Fields of Accreditation
• Item No. 180.1 - Drinking/Potable Water
• Item No. 180.2 - Non-Potable Water
• Item No. 180.3 - Solid and Chemical Materials/Hazardous Waste/Soils
• Item No. 180.4 - Air and Emissions
• Item No. 180.5 - References
• Item No. 180.6 - Technology Codes
• Item No. 180.8 - TNI Methods and Technology IDs

Methods and Analyses Items 198 - 199

• Item No. 198.1 - Friable Analysis-Polarized Light Microscope Method 
• Item No. 198.2 - Environmental Analysis / Revision to Waterborne Asbestos Analysis 
• Item No. 198.4 - Non-Friable Analysis-Transmission Electron Microscope Method
• Item No. 198.6 - Non-Friable Analysis-Polarized Light Microscope Method
• Item No. 198.8 - Surfacing Material Containing Vermiculite-Polarized Light Microscope Method
• Item No. 199 - Alternative Testing Procedures

Quality Assurance Plans and Records Items 200 - 236

• Item No. 200 - Assessment (Audit)
• Item No. 210 - Quality System
• Item No. 231 - Equipment
• Item No. 231.1 - Equipment, Environmental Analysis / Air and Emissions 
• Item No. 232.1 - Materials, Environmental Analyses / Air and Emissions
• Item No. 233 - Procedures, Polarized Light Microscopy
• Item No. 236 - Procedures, Transmission Electron Microscopy

Sample Collection and Field Analyses Items 241 - 249

• Item No. 241 - Requirements for Drinking Water
• Item No. 242 - Requirements for Non-Potable Water
• Item No. 243 - Requirements for Solid & Chemical Materials
• Item No. 244 - Air and Emissions
• Item No. 245 - Requirements for Microbiological Tests of Water Samples
• Item No. 249 - Field Analyses / Analyze Immediate Parameters

Quality Control Requirement Items 271.1 - 280

• Item No. 272 - Finished Bottled Water
• Item No. 273.2 - Air and Emissions / Radon in Air
• Item No. 274 - Dialysis Water Testing
• Item No. 280 - Required Detection Limits

Proficiency Testing Items 300 - 330

• Item No. 300 - General PT Requirements
• Item No. 310 - CY 2024-2025 - PT Schedule
• Item No. 316 - PT Scope by Fields of Accreditation:
  • Item No. 316 - Air
  • Item No. 316 - Bacteriology
  • Item No. 316 - Potable (Drinking) Water
  • Item No. 316 - Non-Potable Water
  • Item No. 316 - Solid Materials
• Item No. 320 - Examples of Instructions
• Item No. 327 - Reporting Proficiency Testing Results
• Item No. 328 - Reports
• Item No. 330 - Scoring

Statutes and Regulations

New York Public Health Law Article 5, Title 1 Subsection 502 Environmental Laboratories

• Follow the link, click "PBH", click "Title 1" under "Article 5" and finally click "502"

Subpart 55-2 - Approval of Laboratories Performing Environmental Analysis

Subpart 55-3 - Environmental Laboratory Approval Fee (formerly, Item 170)