LIMS for Northern Ireland Water

Northern Ireland has implemented a Thermo Fisher SampleManager LIMS system across its laboratories as part of its focus on improving sample management and maintaining the highest quality water.

According to the companies, the LIMS will be used to manage more than 150 000 samples per year taken from reservoirs, water treatment works and directly from the taps in consumers' homes. NI Water's laboratories carry out testing to ensure that drinking water is safe for consumption and meets all regulatory and quality standards.

To enhance the quality of the test methods and to reduce time associated with collecting and logging field samples, NI Water has integrated a new handheld remote sampler with the LIMS. This allows field samples to be taken, results recorded and input directly into the LIMS, and is reported to save time, ensure the quality of the sample at log-in and reduce manual transcription errors as well as provide a secure record of sampler locations.

According to Gareth Maxwell, LIMS and compliance reporting manager for NI Water, the remote sampler “allows us to ensure that all samples taken in the field are accurately recorded, taken where they are claimed to be, and inputted into the LIMS at source. This saves time and facilitates data management."

All samples are now recorded on a single electronic database, so that the integrated solution is reported to provide NI Water with a means to retrieve and report data in a way that would not have been previously possible, while also ensuring the integrity of the field samples at log-in.

For more information visit www.thermoscientific.com/informatics