ACCREDITATIONS AND CERTIFICATIONS
TNI Accreditation
Garden State Laboratories, Inc. of Hillside, NJ is proud to note that it was in the first class of laboratories accredited under the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP) sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. NELAP is run by TNI (The NELAC Institute). With the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection as its Accrediting Authority, Garden State Labs is accredited in the fields of microbiology and chemistry testing in the areas of drinking water, wastewater and solid/hazardous wastes. The States of New York and Pennsylvania also certify Garden State Labs for various analyses.
​
​
Q: What is NELAC - TNI?
A: The National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) was a cooperative association of States and Federal Agencies, formed to establish and promote mutually acceptable performance standards for the operation of environmental laboratories. The standards cover both analytical testing of environmental samples and the laboratory accreditation process. Private sector input to the process is obtained through a variety of mechanisms including open semiannual meetings, participation in NELAC committees, and through the Environmental Laboratory Advisory Board (ELAB), a federally chartered advisory committee with a balanced representation of the private sector, that provides advice to EPA and NELAC. The goal of NELAC is to foster the generation of environmental laboratory data of known and acceptable quality on which to base public health and environmental management decisions. Created in 2006, The NELAC Institute's function is to maintain the NELAP. Membership in TNI is open to any individual or organization interested in laboratory accreditation in the private, public or academic sectors.
​
Q: What is NELAP?
A: The National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP) is the program that implements the TNI standards. States and Federal agencies serve as Accrediting Authorities with coordination facilitated by TNI to assure uniformity. Accreditation by one TNI Accrediting Authority is mutually recognized by the other State and Federal Accrediting Authorities approved under TNI. TNI recognizes 13 States as Accrediting Authorities in 2018.
​
Q: Don't States already accredit environmental laboratories?
A: Yes, but prior to NELAC, the existing State programs varied widely in scope and requirements. Some states had only drinking water laboratory accreditation, while a few accredited laboratories for drinking water, wastewater, air, and solid and hazardous waste. Currently, in order to select a laboratory to analyze samples from a given location, it is first necessary to determine whether there is an applicable State accrediting program, obtain a list of accredited laboratories, and contact accredited laboratories to determine if they are able to perform the analysis.
​
Please note that only a small number of NJDEP certified labs are TNI Accredited. To go to The NELAC Institute home page click here.
​
​
Certifications
​
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Lab #20044 & Lab #15037
The NJDEP runs two certification programs. A NJDEP State program and the nationally recognized TNI program. Garden State Labs Main Lab is certified in accordance with the TNI program. The Garden State Labs Jersey Shore Lab is certified in accordance with the NJDEP State program
The NJDEP certifies laboratories for drinking water, wastewater (water pollution) and solid and hazardous waste analyses. Garden State Labs is certified in these areas for:
-
Microbiology
-
Limited Chemistry (Wet Chemistry)
-
Metals
-
Organics