Analytical labs play an important role, both in site-assessment and in ensuring that waste materials are disposed of without harm to the environment. Labs are capable of rapid, inexpensive and accurate analysis of materials. Staff at testing labs are skilled and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, this laboratory expertise is seldom called on when guidelines for site and waste characterisation or disposal criteria are at the development
stage.
The result of this neglect is often a guideline containing a set of analytical requirements which are inappropriate, either for the material being tested, or for the intended goal of the guidelines, or both. Committees devising guidelines and recommendations involving analytical work are strongly advised to co-opt skilled technical members, preferably from laboratories who will be doing the testing. Government organisations involved in administering guidelines are strongly urged to include testing laboratories on their mailing lists, so that labs are not among the last to become aware of yet another new guideline.