- 17025
- Accredited to ISO
- 61
- Tests inside our scope
- 4 days
- Median turnaround
- 8%
- Tests we subcontract
Every test on this site names its method, its scope and its working days
Acidus is an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory in Kingston. Where a test is inside our accreditation scope it says so; where it is subcontracted it says that too, with the name of the laboratory it goes to. Turnaround is the measured median rather than the target.
Tests and turnaround
See everythingWhat happens to a sample
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1
Received and photographed
Every sample is photographed at reception with its container and its seal. Condition on arrival is the single most common reason a result is later disputed and a photograph ends the argument in a minute.
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2
Booked in against a method
To a named method with its revision number, which appears on the report. If the method you need is not the one you assumed, we telephone before starting rather than reporting against something you did not ask for.
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3
Analysed, with a duplicate
One in ten samples is run in duplicate and one in twenty against a certified reference material. Those control results are on file and you may ask to see the ones from your own batch.
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4
Reported, with the uncertainty
With the measurement uncertainty, the limit of detection and the method reference. A number without its uncertainty is not a result, and a laboratory that omits it is hoping you will not notice.
Accredited is not a word that applies to a laboratory. It applies to a test
Sixty-one of the tests we run are inside our ISO 17025 scope. The rest are not, and every one of those is marked on the list.
Almost every laboratory in this market advertises itself as accredited and almost none publish the scope, because the scope is where the qualification lives. Accreditation attaches to a specific determination by a specific method on a specific matrix. Ours covers sixty-one of them. Eleven further tests we run outside scope, clearly marked, and eight per cent of the work goes to two named subcontract laboratories. If a regulator or a customer requires an accredited result, the list tells you in one column whether you can get one here.
What clients say
The accreditation scope is published in full. I could check before sending.
Cube results at seven and twenty-eight days, on time, for four years.
They telephoned to say my requested method was wrong for the matrix.
Some tests are subcontracted. Clearly marked with the lab named.
Uncertainty and limit of detection on every report without asking.
They publish a proficiency round they failed. That is why I trust the rest.
Tuesday collection only unless you pay. Fair enough, it is free.
Every sample photographed at reception. Ended a dispute in one minute.
Before you send a sample
Search the site-
Are you accredited for the test I need?
The test list says so in a column, per determination. Sixty-one are inside our ISO 17025 scope, eleven are run outside scope and marked, and eight per cent of work is subcontracted to two named laboratories. Accreditation attaches to a determination and a matrix, never to a building. -
How long will it take?
The working days shown against each test are the measured median for the last twelve months rather than a target. Where a result will be late we telephone before the due date, not after it. -
What is on the report?
The result, the measurement uncertainty, the limit of detection, the method reference with its revision number, the sample condition on arrival and the accreditation status of that determination. Every one of those, on every report. -
How should I take the sample?
Ask us first for anything microbiological or for potable water. We supply sterile bottles free, and a badly taken sample cannot be rescued by a good laboratory no matter what it costs. -
What if I dispute a result?
Ask for the control data from your batch, which we will send. Retained sample is held for thirty days for most matrices and can be re-run. If the error is ours the re-test is free and it goes into the method notes. -
Are you independent?
Yes. No shareholder holds an interest in a food processor, bottler, quarry or construction firm. We have declined work twice over a conflict we could not manage and both are written up. -
Do you collect samples?
There is an island-wide run every Tuesday, free for anything already booked in. Outside that it is quoted at cost. Reception also takes drop-offs six days a week.
Tell us the matrix and the determination and we will name the method
If the test you need is outside our scope we will say so and name the laboratory that holds it. About one enquiry in twelve leaves here with somebody else’s address.
Method notes
EverythingSend a sample
The matrix, the determination and when you need it. Collection runs across the island on Tuesdays and samples can be dropped at reception six days a week.
- Closed
- 07:30 to 16:30
- 08:00 to 12:00
Kingston, Kingston