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The Geosynthetic Institute’s (GSI) mission is to develop and transfer knowledge, assess and critique geosynthetics, and provide service to its member organizations. One way it does this is through the Geosynthetic Accreditation Institute’s Laboratory Accreditation Program (GAI-LAP). GAI is one of five institutes under the GSI umbrella. It is regularly the most well-attended subcommittee meeting at ASTM D35 semi-annual committee week.
The Geosynthetic Accreditation Institute-Laboratory Accreditation Program (GAI-LAP) was initiated in 1995 following numerous requests to accredit the operations of testing laboratories within the geosynthetic community and the GSI membership. GAI-LAP has had very successful outcomes over the past 29 years. The program has been embraced by agencies, companies and institutes throughout the world.
The program deals with laboratory accreditation as related to more than 265 consensus (ASTM & ISO) geosynthetic test methods. It suggests that geosynthetics is a viable and relatively developed subset of engineering materials. As such, the industry needs to support programs such as GAI-LAP to champion its quality and materials’ applicability to a myriad of applications.
GAI-LAP was developed for accrediting geosynthetic testing laboratories on a test-by-test basis. GAI-LAP suggests that laboratories use ISO 17025 as their quality system model. It is important to note that laboratories are not “certified” to ISO 17025, but that accreditation indicates competence. In addition, the program uses the GSI lab as the reference test lab and operates as an ISO 17011 enterprise. In short, this means that the GSI lab does not conduct outside commercial testing. It should also be made clear that GAI-LAP does not profess to offer ISO certification nor does it “certify” laboratory results. GAI-LAP provides accreditation to laboratories showing compliance with equipment and documentation for specific standard test methods. In addition, GAI-LAP verifies that an effective quality system exists at accredited laboratories by way of proficiency testing.
There have been significant additions to the number of GAI-LAP tests and laboratories participating in the program. Presently, more than 100 laboratories in 25 countries currently participate in the program. Figure 2 shows the distribution of GAI-LAP locations throughout the world.
The GAI-LAP program has a threefold effect on geosynthetic testing. First, it lends credibility to laboratories that are properly equipped and prepared to do the respective tests. Second, by omission, it eliminates laboratories that are not equipped to do specific tests. Third, it requires a laboratory to prepare and keep current support documentation for testing. Such documentation includes a quality manual, test-specific standard operating procedures, test reports, project file, equipment files and corrective action records.
GAI-LAP’s goal is to prevent errors and inaccuracies by following an approved plan and utilizing standard procedures. The intent is that funds expended in geosynthetic testing are well spent with clear objectives in mind. The purpose of this endeavor is to have a system in place that will aid communication and be accompanied by a paper trail of documentation. The program is rigorous in comparison to the current state-of-the-practice in geosynthetics laboratory testing. It should be mentioned that despite its voluntary nature, competitive pressures might make accreditation seem like a necessity. This is particularly true for laboratories that do federally funded work or are involved with international work.
There currently exists a group of geosynthetic laboratories that care about the quality of their work, the up-to-date status of their procedures and the accuracy of their product (i.e., test results). These laboratories have earned GAI-LAP accreditation. To earn this status, the labs have demonstrated the required quality-control operations and correct internal operating procedures. These laboratories have demonstrated their ability to do the test correctly via on-site audits and proficiency tests.
In lieu of on-site audits each year, compliance is judged based on proficiency testing. This program can provide the assurance that testing procedures and equipment are adequate and helpful in efforts to maintain control of quality in the laboratory. Results can be compared with others on a national and international basis. All data is maintained in strict confidence, but is disseminated within the group. As such, the repeatability and reproducibility of each test can be determined. Knowing the average and the standard deviation for each geosynthetic test allows a rank to be assigned to each submittal. One’s quality for a given test can be judged from such a rank.
GAI-LAP assures that all labs are generating repeatable and reproducible results. A result is complete only when accompanied by a quantitative statement of its uncertainty. The uncertainty is required in order to decide if the result is adequate for its intended purpose and to ascertain if it is consistent with other similar results. This information aids in the establishment of precision and bias statements for all geosynthetic test methods.
Since the inception of the accreditation program, approximately 2% of the submittals have been outliers beyond the required two standard deviation reproducibility database. In all cases, root cause of these outliers was identified, and corrective action was taken.
Subsequently, “lessons learned” articles for recurring problems in the form of hints for better testing have been published to assist in the educational process going forward. If you are interested in participating in the GAI-LAP program, contact the Geosynthetic Institute. You will be joining a “quality minded community” of exceptional laboratories.