Measurement Control is One Component of Laboratory Quality Assurance - What Are the Others?

Measurement control, whether used for weight measurements taken during processing or for the analysis of samples in a laboratory, helps to provide assurance that measurement data will be reliable. That assurance is not absolute, however. There are factors outside of measurement control that can affect the reliability of measurement data. When the concept of measurement control is regarded as quality assurance, as is often done, other sources of problems affecting reliability may be overlooked. As defined by the standard on laboratory quality assurance, ASTM C 1009, measurement control is one of nine component of laboratory quality assurance. These other factors affecting measurement data, particularly those easily overlooked, are discussed along with an overview of the nine elements as presented in ASTM C 1009.