Training Courses

Basic Tools and Operations of Laboratory Experiments – handling and care of basic laboratory instruments -analytical balances, glassware, pH meter, preparation of standard solutions, instrument uncertainty. Workplace Safety – prevention, PPE, waste management, biohazards and chemical waste. Data collection and simple statistics – units of measurements – significant figures. Validation for Instrumental Analysis – performance characteristics (accuracy, precision, LOD, LOQ, selectivity, sensitivity, bias and variance, linear and dynamic ranges, repeatability, reproducibility, system stability and robustness).

• Basic Understanding of Metrology and Calibration.
• SI Units, definitions of relevant terms, and measurement principles;
• National, Regional and International Metrology Organizations.
• National standards and conformance infrastructure. Requirements of MS ISO/IEC 17025:2017 related to Calibration activities.
• Environmental conditions and facilities;
• Equipment;
• Metrological Traceability;
• Calibration procedures;
• Reporting of Results. Interpretation of Calibration Results.
• Some Examples. Questions and Answers.

Currently, there are many chemical laboratories for various purposes especially for testing, quality control, monitoring, and research. The chemicals purchased and produced may pose potential damage to human health and environment. The institutions or users must aware the risk for the accidental occurrence, misuse of chemicals, as well as terrorism. Therefore the knowledge of chemical safety and security is important to mitigate these risks. In this workshop, the topic will be covered including fundamentals or concept of chemical safety and security, personnel protection, chemical storage/ handling, emergency management/chemical spillage, and chemical safety management. It is paramount to establish a healthy and secure chemical laboratory.

• Basic statistics for risk in conformity assessment
• ISO 1702: 2017 requirements on reporting statement of conformity
• Decision rules
• Process and approaches in conformity assessment
• Hypothesis (significance) testing
• Reporting statement of conformity

• General QA principles in accreditation
• Introduction to QA and QC for laboratories
• Personnel qualifications and training
• Internal quality audits and quality review
• Reference materials and traceability
• Method validation and verification
• Proficiency testing
• Measurement uncertainty General QC procedures in testing
• Replicate analysis
• Spike recovery analysis with certified references materials
• Instrument performance and calibration
• Use of control charts

• Introduction to Environmental Management System (EMS)
• General Principle of EMS
• Benefits of EMS Implementation
• Standards and Regulations
• Iso 9001 And Total Quality Management
• Strategic Management & Sustainability
• Introduction to ISO 14001
• ISO 14001 General Information
• Environmental Policy
• Planning Clause
• Implementation and Operation
• Checking and Audit
• Management Review

Topic 1 Overview of Management of Chemicals

1. Chemicals discovered or made
2. Chemicals used in Industries and laboratories
3. Hazards in the workplace
4. Causes of accident in workplace
5. Chemical health risk assessment
6. Safe management of chemicals

Topic 2 Local Laws & Regulations on Chemical Substances

1. General outlines of Local laws : • Factories & Machinery Act 1967 • Pesticides Act 1994 • Environmental Quality Act 1974 and Regulations 2005 • Poisons Act 1952 and Regulations
2. OSHA 1994 (Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994) a. USECHH Reg.2000 b. Class Regulation

Topic 3 Management of Chemicals – Cradle to Grave concept.

1. Introduction to management of chemicals
2. State the concept of Cradle to Grave:
   i. Manufacturing & Production
   ii. Chemical Purchasing
   iii. Transportation; and vital information on • HAZCHEM code
   iv. Receiving & Internal Transportation
   v. Storage
   vi. Usage and Handling
   vii. Disposal
3. Explain elements of “From the Cradle to the Grave” concept.
4. Explain other control strategies

Topic 4 Overview of Chemical Wastes / Laboratory wastes

1. Introduction
2. Explain the types of waste
3. Environmental issues
4. Definition of hazardous wastes
5. Explain the characteristics of wastes
6. Environmental & health effects of hazardous waste

Topic 5 Local laws & Regulations on Chemical Wastes / Laboratory wastes

1. Waste (Under EQA 1974)
2. Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent) Regulations 2009
3. Hazardous Waste Management [Under EQ (Scheduled Wastes) Regulations 2005]

Topic 6 Wastes Management

1. Introduction to waste management plan
2. Wastes minimization, source reduction reuse and recycle
3. Types of wastes a. Industrial wastes
4. Storage of Schedule Wastes
5. Industrial Effluent Treatment Systems a. Chemical treatment b. Biological treatment c. Anaerobic treatment
6. Waste disposal by:
   a. Incineration of scheduled wastes
   b. Solidification
   c. Secure landfill

• Sampling Statistics
• General Procedures of Estimation Uncertainties in Chemical Measurements by the GUM & the EURACHEM principles
• Basic Procedures for MU with worked examples and exercises
• Worked examples of MU by component-by-component approach
• Strategy in implementing MU in Chemical Laboratory
• Recent International Development of MU for Chemical Analysis

Method Validation

• Guidelines for the validation of analytical methods in microbiology
• Criteria and guidance for the validation of qualitative methods
• Criteria and guidance for the validation of quantifiable methods
• Criteria and guidance for the validation of molecular-based assays
• Criteria and guidance for the validation and verification of commercially available microbiological diagnostic kits

Measurement of Uncertainty

• Estimation of Uncertainty for Microbiological Counting Methods

• SAMM Requirements for Internal Audit
• Overview of the Internal Audit Process
• Audit Schedule
• Audit planning
• Development of auditors skills
• Conducting an Audit
• The Audit Report and Follow-up

• Approaches to method validation
• Performance characteristic of a method
• Documentation and use of method validation data
• Use of method validation data for quantification of measurement uncertainty and conformity assessment

• ISO 17025 requirements and SAMM Policy on proficiency testing (PT)
• Organisation of PT schemes
• Statistics in PT performance evaluation
• Root cause analysis for poor performance
• Corrective actions

• Introduction to Method Validation
• SAMM Scheme
• Descriptive Statistics
• Outlier Tests – Dixon, Grubb and Cochran
• Standard error of the mean
• Confidence Intervals
• Significance Testing, the Student t-test, F-test, one-way ANOVA, Analysis of Variance, Linear Regression, Standard Curve & its Confidence Intervals, Determination of method’s measurement uncertainty

This short 2-Day course is designed to introduce the basic concepts of polymer science and polymer processing to the working chemists and industrial technologists. It is suitable for people with very little or no knowledge of polymer chemistry, and also for those when need to refresh their knowledge of polymeric materials. It provides

1. An overview of polymers, covering thermoplastic and thermoset materials. This complies their structure and property differences in determining their applications. Introduction of simple nomenclature will be included.
2. Principles of polymerization and major polymerization methods, copolymerization, block and graft copolymers. Basic principles of chain-growth reactions (radical, cationic, anionic) leading to the formation of polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, Teflon, etc will be introduced,
3. The effect of molecular weight distribution, polymeric molecular structures, mechanical properties and morphology of polymers in glassy, rubbery and viscous melt states on the glass transition and melting temperatures will be discussed.
4. Basic techniques of polymer characterizations by spectroscopic and thermal analysis will be introduced.
5. Relationship of the principles of chain branching, copolymerization, and cross-linking and their impact on the polymer properties will be highlighted.
6. An introduction to rubber elasticity and basic rheological studies related to the application of polymers including creep, stress relaxation and dynamic mechanical properties. These provide understandings to the flow properties of polymer melts and application in polymer processing methods such as extrusion, injection molding, blow molding, thermoforming and rotational molding.

• Introduction
• General requirements
• Structural requirements
• Resource requirements
• Process requirements
• Management systems requirements