Our ALAB - competence, efficiency, integrity.
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We are Australia's independent laboratory accreditation body. Our team is made up of conformity assessment professionals who share a commitment to excellence in testing and calibration, and the integrity of their work - for the benefit of Industry and the whole community.
​ALAB Limited is a not-for-profit charity operating for the good of the Australian community.
Services
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ALAB provides accreditation against the international best practice Standard for laboratories - ISO/IEC 17025:2017.
We independently assess laboratories' documented systems and then conduct on-site visits to review and evaluate the implementation of laboratory processes, including testing and calibration.
Contact Us
FOR A NO-OBLIGATION PROPOSAL
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1300 068 185
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Sydney Head Office
ALAB Limited
Angel Place, Level 17
123 Pitt Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
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Why Accreditation?
Laboratory accreditation is the independent evaluation of testing and calibration laboratories ("conformity assessment bodies") against International Standards for governance and competence. Accreditation provides laboratories with the confidence to demonstrate to their stakeholders that their test and calibration reports are accurate and reliable.
ALAB arose in 2016 from the need for freedom of choice when it comes to laboratory accreditation. ALAB started as private company, but has evolved to become the registered charity it is today.
Australian governments, industry, retailers and the wider community hold accreditation bodies to the highest standards, and so ALAB operates strictly to publicly-available governance rules that are registered by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and a constitution that dictates how we demonstrate to the Australian Community that our accreditation certificate is a trust-worthy attestation of a laboratory's competence and reliability.
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News & Publications

29-06-25
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 - Where are we now?
The current version of the competence and governance Standard was a significant change from the previous version - in a nutshell 2017 brought the following changes:
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Scope revised to cover testing, calibration and sampling associated with subsequent calibration and testing.
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Risk-based thinking covered for the first time
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The process approach matches ISO 9001 (QMS), ISO 15189 (medical testing) and ISO/IEC 17021-1 (management systems certification).
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Stronger focus on information technologies and incorporates the use of computer systems, electronic records and the production of electronic results and reports.
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So, how has the 2017 edition been accepted and, does anything need changing? ALAB's view is that the Standard continues to be fit for purpose. It addresses key areas of the laboratory's operations and includes provisions that are internationally accepted as criteria of best practice.
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The committee responsible for the Standard (ISO CASCO - ISO Conformity Assessment Standards Committee) provides useful explainers - such as this (external content - opens in a new page):
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However, an area of significant interest to laboratories is the role of digitalization and AI in laboratory operations.
Technology moves rapidly and when the current version was being drafted, there was considerably less knowledge and awareness of what was to come in this space.
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​There are potentially many laboratory processes that may benefit from digitalization and AI. One which is often mentioned is the maintenance of equipment lists but there are many other use cases.
We believe that any future revision of the Standard will need to incorporate appropriate governance provisions so that efficiencies gained through the use of digitalization and AI do not negatively affect the ability of the accreditation process to objectively evaluate competence and reliability.
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This is clearly a challenge for the accreditation community and one that ALAB will pursue through its membership of laboratory accreditation cooperations such as APAC.
Technical Areas
Mechanical testing​
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Electrical testing​
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Chemical testing
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Biochemical testing
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Personal Protective Equipment testing
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Construction Products testing
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Consumer Safety Products testing
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Calibration
27-06-2025
On 1st January 2019, the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation and the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation merged to form a single entity - the Asia Pacific Accreditation Cooperation, or APAC. APAC is a peer membership body for accreditation bodies throughout Asia and the Pacific. ALAB continues to be an Affiliate Member of APAC and is working towards full MRA membership.