New lab conference

The organisers of WWEM 2010, (10/11 November 2010, Telford, England), the world’s largest environmental monitoring event, have announced that this year's event will include a dedicated Conference for the laboratory sector.

Focusing on efficiency, sustainability and accreditation, the Conference will address the key issues facing commercial laboratories in the new low-carbon, post-recession era and will be most relevant to analytical staff within the water, food/beverage, manufacturing, processing and environmental sectors.

Laboratory efficiency
With pressure on the costs of analytical services and demand from customers for faster results, efficiency has long been the key to success for laboratories. However, during 2009 improved efficiency provided a path to survival for commercial laboratories around the world and as countries emerge from recession the most efficient will be in the best position to prosper. The Lab Conference at WWEM 2010 will therefore examine ways to improve efficiency, particularly within the context of laboratory upgrade and new lab design.

Accreditation
Myriad standards, regulations and guidelines apply to analytical laboratories and the Lab Conference will examine the ways in which these can contribute to the overall success of a laboratory.

Sustainability
The UK government has pledged that emissions of greenhouse gases will be cut by 80% CO2 equivalent (measured against 1990 levels) by 2050. However, over the same period Britain’s population is expected to grow between 15% to 30% and it is likely that most industries will be required to meet higher quality and environmental standards – all driving up energy consumption. It follows, therefore, that all industries and their supply chains will be under pressure to reduce energy costs and contribute to the Government's target.

Analytical laboratories have an important role to play in the achievement of sustainability objectives. Firstly, by reducing the carbon footprint of their own activities, including the delivery of samples and results, and secondly through the provision of test data to inform operational decisions.