UK lab company awarded UKAS accreditation

SGS United Kingdom in Aberdeen has become one of the first independent UK-based laboratories to gain United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accreditation to perform refinery gas analysis (RGA) by DIN51666 to ISO 17025:2005.

SGS Oil, Gas and Chemicals (OGC) provides independent analytical, reporting, sampling, inspection and technical consultancy services to energy, utilities and chemicals businesses across the UK. To test samples for compliance with required specifications the company uses advanced analytical techniques including gas chromatography mass spectrometry, high performance liquid chromatography and graphite furnace and flame atomic absorption.

Dr David Robertson, upstream laboratory manager at SGS OGC Aberdeen, says, "We decided to extend our accreditation: to perform RGA to internationally recognized quality standards; and to introduce more rigorous controls on data, thereby accommodating our clients' preferences for particular methods."

Independent accreditation body UKAS is recognized by the Government's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills to accredit organizations against internationally agreed standards of competence, performance, quality and impartiality.

"By extending our accreditation we're adding value to our clients' products, ensuring the traceability of our results and demonstrating that these results are effectively independently audited by a recognized third party," added Robertson.

More information is available on the company's website at www.uk.sgs.com