Laboratory Excellence and AccreditationDecision Rules and Statements of Conformity
When a laboratory states that a result passes or fails a specification, it has made a decision about a measurement that carries uncertainty, and the rule governing that decision has to be agreed with the customer before the work starts. This course covers those rules. Delegates work through simple acceptance, guard banding and the shared and specific risk approaches, calculate the probability of a false accept and a false reject, and select a rule proportionate to the consequence of getting it wrong. The customer conversation is treated as part of the method, since a decision rule imposed after a result is a dispute waiting to happen. The course closes on wording a conformity statement that says exactly what was decided.
Course objectives
- Explain why a conformity statement is a decision under uncertainty
- Apply simple acceptance, guard banding and risk based decision rules
- Calculate the probability of a false accept and a false reject
- Select a rule proportionate to the consequence of a wrong decision
- Agree a decision rule with a customer before work begins
- Word a conformity statement so it says exactly what was decided
- Handle a result that falls inside the guard band
Who should attend
- Technical signatories and laboratory managers
- Quality managers in testing and calibration laboratories
- Analysts issuing conformity statements
- Customers and specifiers who receive them
- Auditors and assessors
Course outline
- 01Conformity as a decision under uncertainty
- 02Simple acceptance and its hidden risk
- 03Guard banding
- 04Shared risk and specific risk approaches
- 05Calculating false accept and false reject probability
- 06Choosing a rule against consequence
- 07Agreeing the rule with the customer
- 08Wording the statement, and the result inside the guard band
Scheduled sessions
| Dates | Venue | Format | Price | Register |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 28 to 29 September 2026 | Online | Online | R6,500 per delegate | Register Now |
| 5 to 6 November 2026 | Kigali, Rwanda | Classroom | USD 795 per delegate | Register Now |
| 16 to 17 November 2026 | Gaborone, Botswana | Classroom | R11,950 per delegate | Register Now |
| 3 to 4 March 2027 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | Classroom | USD 795 per delegate | Register Now |
| 17 to 18 March 2027 | Pretoria, South Africa | Classroom | R11,950 per delegate | Register Now |
| 30 to 31 March 2027 | Nairobi, Kenya | Classroom | USD 795 per delegate | Register Now |