First steps toward harmonisation of European EQAS in occupational and environmental laboratory medicine: from Dublin to Rome.

Laboratories performing analyses in the field of occupational and environmental medicine (OELM) must provide reliable results for an increasing number of analytes related to exposure to chemicals. Participation in external quality assessment schemes (EQAS) allows laboratories to assess their performance and is regarded as a pre-requisite for accreditation from appropriate national and supranational bodies. Within the framework of the European Union, harmonisation of procedures for evaluation of laboratory performance in EQAS is desirable, in order to achieve a similar degree of excellence within Europe. Collaboration among different countries would also be profitable to compare experiences, develop new schemes, covering a wider range of analytes, and to devise common research on specific problems. We report on initiatives developed to meet this objective, in collaboration with the Standards, Measurements & Testing (SM&T) programme of the European Commission (EC), Directorate General XII. Meetings were held in Dublin and Rome which allowed experience among European EQAS organisers in OELM to be shared. Discussion focused on the identification of common needs and areas where collaborative work could be carried out.