Section 350. Arrival, admittance, and opening conference

A. Arrival. Assessment personnel shall arrive at the laboratory during established working hours. The laboratory manager (or, if unavailable, the laboratory manager's designee) shall be located as soon as possible after the assessment personnel arrive on the premises.

B. Admittance of assessment personnel.

1. A laboratory's refusal to admit the assessment personnel for an on-site assessment shall result in an automatic failure of the laboratory to receive certification or loss of an existing certification by the laboratory, unless there are extenuating circumstances that are accepted and documented by DCLS. The team leader for the assessment personnel shall notify DCLS as soon as possible after refusal of entry.

2. DCLS shall consider any verbal or physical threat to the health and safety of its assessors or any overt antagonism towards its assessors as a refusal to admit the assessors for the purpose of on-site assessment. The assessors shall vacate the laboratory and shall notify DCLS as soon as possible of the circumstances of this refusal to admit. This refusal to admit shall result in an automatic failure of the laboratory to receive certification or the automatic loss of an existing certification by the laboratory.

C. Health and safety.

1. Under no circumstance, and especially as a precondition to gain access to a laboratory, shall assessment personnel be required or even allowed to sign any waiver of responsibility on the part of the laboratory for injuries incurred during an assessment.

2. Assessment personnel shall comply with all facility and laboratory safety procedures.

D. Opening conference. An opening conference shall be conducted and shall address the following topics:

1. The purpose of the assessment;

2. The identification of assessment personnel;

3. The test methods that will be examined;

4. Any pertinent records and procedures to be examined during the assessment and the names of the individuals in the laboratory responsible for providing assessment personnel with such records;

5. The roles and responsibilities of laboratory staff and managers;

6. Any special safety procedures that the laboratory may think necessary for the protection of assessment personnel;

7. The standards and criteria that will be used in judging the adequacy of the laboratory operation;

8. Confirmation of the tentative time for the exit conference; and

9. Discussion of any questions the laboratory may have about the assessment process.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 25, Issue 07, eff. January 1, 2009; amended, Virginia Register Volume 32, Issue 22, eff. September 1, 2016.

Statutory Authority

§ 2.2-1105 of the Code of Virginia.