This page contains the following requirements for certification:

• Proficiency testing requirements
• Certification manual
• Statutes and Regulations

Proficiency testing requirements

In order to become ELAP certified, your laboratory must demonstrate proficiency for all requested analytes listed in Certification Manual Item 316 below.  

For continuing accreditation, achieve passing scores in at least two (2) of three (3) consecutive proficiency tests (PT). The PT study close dates successive PT samples for a field of accreditation must be at least five (5) months apart and no longer than seven (7) months apart from the prior study.

Also, at least one of the scores must be less than six (6) months old. Corrective action or supplemental PTs must be at least seven (7) days from the close date of the prior study.

Therefore, you may take any combination of the following actions:

1. Request that the TNI Accredited providers_[1] send test scores from analyses performed within the previous eighteen (18) months on samples directly to the ELAP Office.
2. Purchase samples of each requested Field of Proficiency Testing compound from one of the TNI Accredited providers_[2] and have the provider submit your scores directly to the ELAP Office.
3. Wait until the analytes are tested in the next regularly scheduled NYS DOH Wadsworth Center PT Program study found in Item 310 of the Certification Manual.

Scores (evaluation reports) are required to be released within twenty-one (21) days after the study's close date. Changes to a lab's accreditation status are acted on within 60 calendar days of the release date of the test scores to the ELAP Office.

Certification Manual

General Information Items 100 - 176

• Item No. 110 - Legal Requirements_[3]
• Item No. 130 - Application Process and General Requirements_[4]
• Item No. 132 - Restrictions on the Use of Certification_[5]
• Item No. 135 - Accreditation of Mobile Laboratories: Definitions and Criteria of Approval_[6]
• Item No. 140 - Personnel Requirements_[7]
• Item No. 150 - Denial, Suspension and Revocation of Approval_[8]
• Item No. 175 - Instructions for Reporting Total Adjusted Volumes_[9]
• Item No. 176  - Record Retention_[10]

Fields of Accreditation Items 180 - 180.8

• Item No. 180 - Fields of Accreditation_[11]
• Item No. 180.1 - Drinking/Potable Water_[12]
• Item No. 180.2 - Non-Potable Water_[13]
• Item No. 180.3 - Solid and Chemical Materials/Hazardous Waste/Soils_[14]
• Item No. 180.4 - Air and Emissions_[15]
• Item No. 180.5 - References_[16]
• Item No. 180.6 - Technology Codes_[17]
• Item No. 180.8 - TNI Methods and Technology IDs_[18]

Methods and Analyses Items 198 - 199

• Item No. 198.1 - Friable Analysis-Polarized Light Microscope Method_[19] 
• Item No. 198.2 - Environmental Analysis / Revision to Waterborne Asbestos Analysis_[20] 
• Item No. 198.4 - Non-Friable Analysis-Transmission Electron Microscope Method_[21]
• Item No. 198.6 - Non-Friable Analysis-Polarized Light Microscope Method_[22]
• Item No. 198.8 - Surfacing Material Containing Vermiculite-Polarized Light Microscope Method_[23]
• Item No. 199 - Alternative Testing Procedures_[24]

Quality Assurance Plans and Records Items 200 - 236

• Item No. 200 - Assessment (Audit)_[25]
• Item No. 210 - Quality System_[26]
• Item No. 231 - Equipment_[27]
• Item No. 231.1 - Equipment, Environmental Analysis / Air and Emissions _[28]
• Item No. 232.1 - Materials, Environmental Analyses / Air and Emissions_[29]
• Item No. 233 - Procedures, Polarized Light Microscopy_[30]
• Item No. 236 - Procedures, Transmission Electron Microscopy_[31]

Sample Collection and Field Analyses Items 241 - 249

• Item No. 241 - Requirements for Drinking Water_[32]
• Item No. 242 - Requirements for Non-Potable Water_[33]
• Item No. 243 - Requirements for Solid & Chemical Materials_[34]
• Item No. 244 - Air and Emissions_[35]
• Item No. 245 - Requirements for Microbiological Tests of Water Samples_[36]
• Item No. 249 - Field Analyses / Analyze Immediate Parameters_[37]

Quality Control Requirement Items 271.1 - 280

• Item No. 272 - Finished Bottled Water_[38]
• Item No. 273.2 - Air and Emissions / Radon in Air_[39]
• Item No. 274 - Dialysis Water Testing_[40]
• Item No. 280 - Required Detection Limits_[41]

Proficiency Testing Items 300 - 330

• Item No. 300 - General PT Requirements_[42]
• Item No. 310 - CY 2024-2025_[43] - PT Schedule
• Item No. 316 - PT Scope by Fields of Accreditation:
  • Item No. 316 - Air_[44]
  • Item No. 316 - Bacteriology_[45]
  • Item No. 316 - Potable (Drinking) Water_[46]
  • Item No. 316 - Non-Potable Water_[47]
  • Item No. 316 - Solid Materials_[48]
• Item No. 320 - Examples of Instructions_[49]
• Item No. 327 - Reporting Proficiency Testing Results_[50]
• Item No. 328 - Reports_[51]
• Item No. 330 - Scoring_[52]

Statutes and Regulations

New York Public Health Law Article 5, Title 1 Subsection 502 Environmental Laboratories

• Follow the link_[53], click "PBH", click "Title 1" under "Article 5" and finally click "502"

Subpart 55-2 - Approval of Laboratories Performing Environmental Analysis_[54]

Subpart 55-3 - Environmental Laboratory Approval Fee_[55] (formerly, Item 170)