Quality Assurance

Quality Policy

The Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit (ORAU) is dedicated to undertaking and supporting high quality research through the application of radiocarbon dating.

The Unit's policy is to provide its research collaborators and other clients with the standard of radiocarbon dating service they require, based on scientific rigour and carried out in accordance with the best practices defined by international research in this area. To this end the Unit is engaged in continuous research and methodological development. The Unit works to continually improve the quality and efficiency of the dating service provided.

The Unit is committed to satisfying all applicable requirements, including ISO 9001, and all relevant health and safety legislation including radiation and biohazard.

The Director takes overall responsibility for the quality of the work undertaken at the Unit. However, the implementation of this Quality Policy is the responsibility of every member of staff and they must be familiar with this policy and with the detailed procedures and other documentation which are relevant to their area of work within the Unit.

Quality objectives are determined and implemented to help drive continuous improvement. They include a plan stating what will be done, when it should be completed, the resources that will be required, who will be responsible and how the outcomes will be evaluated. Objectives and the relevance of this quality policy are reviewed twice a year.

ISO Accreditation

The ISO-9001 standard is a general management standard applicable to a broad range of organisations. It does not say anything specifically about radiocarbon or indeed scientific measurements. The reason for using such a standard is that it enables the unit to learn from the best practice of management in commercial organisations. All of its elements are designed to help maintain high standards over a prolonged period and learn from problems when they arise.

ORAU has been accredited by the British Standards Institution for the provision of radiocarbon measurements.

The standard has implications for all aspects of the Unit's operation and some aspects of the system are outlined below.

Details of ISO-9001 accreditation:

Standard: BS EN ISO 9001:2008
Scope: The provision of radiocarbon dating services
Certification No: BSI FS 53284

ISO-9001 - FS-53284

Documentation and Instructions

All documents and instructional documents used by the unit are maintained centrally on our computer network. Changes are documented so that we can always find out exactly when procedures changed and why.

This approach also ensures that all members of the staff carry out the various stages of the dating process in essentially the same way, ensuring consistency and long term reproducibility.

Calibration and Testing of Equipment

All equipment is calibrated and/or tested regularly to ensure that it is operating satisfactorily. We also ensure that all measurements are directly traceable to international standards.

Training

All staff involved in the measurement process are trained in the activities they perform by experienced members of the laboratory and using the centrally documented instructions.

Problems

Naturally, with such a complex process problems do occur from time to time. There is a mechanism for recording problems and lessons learnt from them are incorporated into revised instructions or procedures.

Meetings

Regular meetings held within the unit deal with the overall management on different levels:

Weekly meetings - are used to scrutinise all dates measured by the laboratory
Monthly meetings - are used for the management of changes and solutions to problems that have arisen
Six-monthly meetings - are used to review overall direction and priorities

Auditing

Regular internal audits are conducted to ensure that everything is being done in the way that it should. Every year the unit is externally audited by the BSI.