LONDON, UK – February 8, 2018 – The South African National Accreditation System (SANAS) has extended the scope of ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation held by Exova’s South African based environmental laboratory. Exova was recently acquired by Element Materials Technology (Element) to create one, world-class, global testing services partner.
Based in Somerset West, outside Cape Town, the laboratory carries out chemical analysis of soil and water samples for environmental consultants, industrial sites and waste management companies, primarily in the oil and gas sector.
The initial accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 was granted in July 2016, followed by the addition of further analytical methods. In December 2017, an audit by SANAS enabled the remaining key methods to be accredited.
Matt Davies, EVP for Infrastructure and Environmental, Element, commented: “This accreditation will allow us to deliver major improvements to our South African clients as analysis can now be undertaken locally, without having to export samples to our UK laboratories.
Undertaking this testing in South Africa will reduce holding times, improve turnaround times for our customers, and allow us to further invest in our South African based facility, creating additional employment opportunities, and improving on our existing B-BBEE score.”
Inorganic analysis, including anions, cations, dissolved solids, COD, pH, and conductivity, plus organic analysis such as EPH, TPH CWG, PAHs, VOC, SVOCs, and GRO, are all now covered by our SANAS ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation. The full scope of accreditation can be viewed on the SANAS website: www.sanas.co.za.
Element’s Somerset West laboratory is comprised of a team of 14, which is set to grow to 20 by the end of summer 2018.
About Element
In June 2017, Element Materials Technology acquired Exova Group Limited to create one, world-class global testing services partner. Element specializes in providing a comprehensive range of materials and product qualification testing, consulting, certification and calibration services to the global Aerospace; Fire & Building Products; Infrastructure & Environmental; Oil & Gas; and Transportation & Industrials sectors.
Element’s expanded network of 6,200 Engaged Experts operate out of nearly 200 laboratories in more than 30 countries and are trusted by organizations to test and advise on the safety, quality, performance and compliance of their products, systems and operations.
Note to editors
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) is a form of economic empowerment initiated by the South African government in response to criticism against narrow-based empowerment instituted in the country during 2003/2004.
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“Undertaking this testing in South Africa will reduce holding times and improve turnaround times for our customers.”
Matt Davies
EVP, iNFRASTRUCTURE & eNVIRONMENTAL