In a few words...

A.G.L.A.E. stands for Association Générale des Laboratoires d’Analyse de l’Environnement (General Association of Analytical Laboratories of the Environment). This is a non-profit-association, governed by the French law of 1 July 1901.

Founded on 16 December 1993, on the initiative of different laboratories (regional, public, private, industrials, water companies…), the Association aims to improve analyses, especially chemical and microbiological, of water and other matrices of the environment.

A.G.L.A.E. is accredited by the French Accreditation body COFRAC for the provision of proficiency testing.

View: section "Quality Assurance"

A.G.L.A.E. represents today 514 members, 549 sites including 10% of laboratories worldwide for a total of more than 8000 parcels sent every year. Our scheme includes 98 proficiency tests, with 1015 parameters implemented.

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Our activity

External quality control network

The main activity of the Association is to provide External Quality Control. Proficiency Testing Schemes are aimed at assisting laboratories to improve their Quality Assurance system and at warning responsible staff against any possible drift of their analytical system..

Our activity covers various sectors:

• physical chemistry in natural waters (human consumption waters and surface waters), waste waters and saline waters;
• measurement of global indicators in surface and waste waters;
• measurement of mineral and organic micropollutants in clean waters and waste waters;
• disinfection by-products in clean waters;
• physical chemistry, as well asmineral and organic micropollutants in various solid matrices (sediments, sewage sludges from water treatment plants and wastes);
• ecotoxicology in surface and waste waters;
• microbiology clean waters, bathing and waste waters;
• enumeration of pathogenic micro-organisms in natural, bathing and waste waters;
• enumeration of parasites in surface waters;
• microbiology in sewage sludges from water treatment plants;
• measurement of toxins of cyanobacteria in natural waters.

View: section of the current scheme

Collaborative studies

Another role of the Association is to carry out collaborative studies. These studies are commissioned by third-parties (the French standards body AFNOR, Ministries, Water Agencies, etc.) and the objectives may be:

• characterisation of analytical methods (in terms of linearity, specificity, robustness, etc.);
• validation of methods (considers more specifically the determination of accuracy) in order, for example to standardise it;
• validation of alternative methods in relation to reference methods (generally standardised).

In 2007 for example, A.G.L.A.E. conducted a proficiency test with the ‘Bureau de Normalisation du Pétrole’ (French standard body for petroleum) in order to determine the precision of the the testing method NF M 07-203 ‘Petroleum products – Determination of total hydrocarbons in aqueous effluents by infra-red spectrometry –oil refinery, asphalt industries (method intended for replacement of French standard NF T 90-203).

Participation in standardization works

A.G.L.A.E. is an AFNOR (French standard body) member and is actively involved in several working groups.
Underway: : writing of a standard aimed at evaluating the uncertainty of measurement associated with a microbiological analysis result in the environmental field.

View: section "Participate in standardization works"

Quality control test materials

A.G.L.A.E. also provides additional test materials.
For some programmes (solid matrices), surplus test materials may be distributed a posteriori for appraisal to laboratories who participated in the proficiency test.

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Our functioning

An annual scheme is provided to members based on a calendar year.

Written communication with participants is via emails only.

Preparation of test materials

A.G.L.A.E. has selected specialised laboratories (‘Operators’), chosen for their expertise and experience to prepare and package test materials according to requirements set by the Association.

Test materials provided are to samples routinely analysed and mainly prepared from natural matrices. An adjustment (spiking and / or dilution) is sometimes carried out to bring the concentration level of the parameters to the wished values.
Samples sent to participating laboratories are mainly test materials ready to use.
For microbiology tests, obtaining natural and stable test materials is not always possible: spiked water samples obtained from strains grown in exponential phase of growth or from dehydrated strains (presented as pills to reconstitute) can be used.

Transport of test materials

Test materials are then transported to participating laboratories by a courier selected for its reliability.

For laboratories outside France, thank you to contact us for the delivery time.

Confidentiality of test results

The Association implements the necessary procedures to protect its members from any misuse of the data concerning them.
Anonymity and confidentiality are secured :

• by not disclosing the participants’ list;
• by hiding participant’s identity.

Review of the results and test reports

A ‘Review of the results’ is sent to participants the week following the reporting deadline. It enables laboratories to react promptly to any major drift of their analytical system.
This document is followed by a statistical processing in accordance with precise rules written in standards or in reference documents. Afterwards, a complete test report is issued to participating laboratories.

View: section "Your test report"

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Quality Assurance

	Since 2005, the Association has been accredited by COFRAC, in compliance with ISO/IEC 17025 in combination with ISO/IEC Guide 43-1 and following recommendations of ILAC G13 for the provision of interlaboratory comparisons under the accreditation number 1-1664. The provisions of these international documents are translated by COFRAC in the document LAB CIL ref 02.
Scope available on www.cofrac.fr.

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More information ...

Should you wish more information, please contact us and you may download the document "General information":

Download: General information.pdf