Users of laboratory services and other interested parties are invited to participate in the development of a new practice that will promote uniformity in quality management practice for all standards under the jurisdiction of ASTM International Committee D05 on Coal and Coke. Subcommittee D05.30 on Quality Assurance is developing the proposed new standard, WK14563, Establishing the Competence of Laboratories Using ASTM Procedures in the Sampling and Analysis of Coal and Coke.

“The proposed new practice will ensure compliance with a recognized standard for management of quality within laboratory operations, and it will improve coal laboratory quality and precision,” says Lee Rigsby, president, Vanguard Solutions, and D05.30 subcommittee chair. Rigsby says that laboratory service users are especially being sought to participate because they will be the primary users of the standard. Operators of coal laboratories and coal buyers and sellers will also benefit from the use of WK14563.

Rigsby says that the proposed new standard will bring two other ASTM Committee D05 standards, D 4182, Practice for Evaluation of Laboratories Using ASTM Procedures in the Sampling and Analysis of Coal and Coke, and D 4621, Guide for Quality Management in an Organization That Samples or Tests Coal and Coke, into alignment with ISO 17025, General Requirements for the Competence of Calibration and Testing Laboratories.

“WK14563 will go above and beyond ISO 17025 in the specifics necessary for coal laboratories to maintain their quality,” says Rigsby.

For technical information, contact Lee S. Rigsby, Vanguard Solutions, Inc., Ashland, Ky. (phone: 606/325-1970; lee@vanguard-solutions.com). Committee D05 will meet May 20-23 during the May Committee Week in Norfolk, Va. For membership or meeting information, contact Scott Orthey, manager, Technical Committee Operations, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9730; sorthey@astm.org).

Release #7656