Random Site Visits Assess Accuracy Of Process

from the Spring 1998 issue

At the January 1998 meeting, the ICAVL Board Of Directors instituted a random site visit mechanism for assessing the quality and accuracy of the self study process. The random site visits will be a means of internally validating the self study process, and to assess the accuracy of the paper document review rather than verifying the information submitted by laboratories in the self study documents. The report generated by site visitors will be compared to the original report completed by the application reviewers.

Each quarter, the names of new applicant laboratories for that quarter will be entered into a computer database, which has been designed to select two laboratories on the basis of a pure random number generation program. As such, every laboratory has an equal opportunity to be selected for a random site visit. The ICAVL will bear the cost of the random site visits. The random site visits are distinguished from the traditional type of site visits, in that it is the ICAVL that has selected the laboratory for a random site visit. Random site visits will be completed prior to the application review.

Currently, about 10 percent of laboratories applying for accreditation receive the traditional type of site visits, which are triggered by the information submitted in the self study documents prior to a final decision. The traditional site visits are determined by the Board Of Directors, and are necessary to validate and clarify the information provided in the self study documents. Laboratories designated for the traditional site visits are responsible for all associated costs.

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