NLLAP Accreditation Program

Whether your sample is collected with a wipe or a vacuum, it should be sent to a laboratory certified by either the NLLAP or ELPAT. To be sure the laboratory is certified to analyze for lead in dust, call the National Safety CounciTs National Lead Information Clearinghouse (NLIC) hotline at 800-424-LEAD or one of the agencies that run the accreditation programs, listed in Appendix B, under Testing/Laboratory Analysis. 

Use of an NLLAP (National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program)-approved laboratory. 

Provides a state-by-state list of laboratories approved by EPA s National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program (NLLAP) and recommended for analyzing paint chips, dust wipes, and/or soil. Also information on specific XRF instruments. 

Laboratory analysis of lead in paint chips should only be carried out by those laboratories certified for such analyses by the U.S. EPA National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program (NLLAP), using approved laboratory methods. Use of AAS methodology, particularly in the ICP-AAS configuration, is the common approach. Another routine method is anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). 

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