Organisers of EQAS for Occupational and Environmental Laboratory Medicine
Occupational and Environmental Medicine involves the investigation of exposure to chemicals. This may be at work or from the general environment including food and water, the air we breathe, products used in the home or in the course of recreational activity. The increasing use of rare earth elements in new technologies over the past years added new challenges for both measurement capabilities and potential risk to human health. While over-exposure may cause illness, disability and even death, some chemicals are essential to well-being. Thus, insufficient intakes of minerals, trace elements and vitamins can be equally harmful to health. In addition, there are exposures associated with clinical treatments, either directly as pharmaceuticals or indirectly as in the release of metals from joint implants, for example.
A fundamental feature of occupational and environmental medicine is the measurement of these chemicals in specimens such as blood or urine. The results are used to protect those working with toxic chemicals, to identify undue exposures from the general environment, to detect deficiencies of essential nutrients and to monitor clinical exposures. This is especially important for vulnerable groups such as infants, pregnant and lactating women or the elderly or those working with highly toxic chemicals. It is vital, therefore, that the laboratory work should be carried out with an emphasis on ensuring accurate and consistent results. External Quality Assessment Schemes (EQAS) are one of the resources that help laboratories to achieve these goals. The objectives of the Network of organisers of EQA schemes in the field of occupational and laboratory medicine are to:
- Stimulate improvements in the quality and comparability of analytical data
- Establish harmonised criteria for laboratory performance assessment between different EQAS, based on documented data for biological variability or analytical capabilities
- Collaborate to enhance the practice of EQA
Members of the group are Organisers of External Quality Assessment Schemes in OELM from countries in Europe, Australia, North America and Asia. Organisers of Schemes in other countries are welcome to join. Initial contact may be made to Dr. Chris Harrington (chris.harrington1@nhs.net). Various joint projects are organised and meetings are held regularly to review progress and consider ideas for any new work.
Six members of the Network (Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain, agreed to collaborate in the organisation of their schemes for the determination of trace elements in biological fluids. In a federated approach they share samples, database and layout of the reports but remain as independent organisations with their own registration, user meetings and other support, and language. This federation is open to other national organisers to join. In this case, please contact MCA laboratory (mca.office@skbwinterswijk.nl)
The buttons on the left lead to
(i) a restricted area for the participants in the federate OELM EQAS for trace elements in biological fluids to register their method of choice, submit their results and access monthly and annual reports of their performance.
(ii) general information on the federate OELM EQAS for trace elements in biological fluids and
(iii) details of projects and publications of the Network (available only in English)
OELM-HP_EN.v3 [03-2025]
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