METH TESTING PROCEDURE

Posted by StevenHWicker on March 16th, 2019

There are many methamphetamine (P) contaminated houses, buildings and vehicles throughout New Zealand. Methamphetamine is a problematic contaminant in buildings as contamination is generated from its use and production and can pose a risk to inhabitants’ health.

Forensic & Industrial Science Ltd has been testing for methamphetamine contamination and attending suspected clandestine methamphetamine laboratories since 2004.

NZS 8510:2017 & IANZ ACCREDITATION

In 2017, Standards New Zealand released NZS 8510:2017 Testing and decontamination of methamphetamine-contaminated properties. This Standard lists the requirements that testing and decontamination companies must comply with.

Our methamphetamine services are accredited by IANZ to NZS 8510:2017. This gives you as our client assurance that we are following the procedures in the Standard and that our staff are qualified to be undertaking this work.

Forensic & Industrial Science Ltd first became IANZ accredited in 2014 for laboratory analysis of methamphetamine in environmental wipes. In 2015, our methamphetamine sampling services also became IANZ accredited. P Testing NZ

Our company was the first company to be IANZ accredited to NZS 8510:2017 after its release. We are IANZ accredited for our sampling in screening, detailed, and post-decontamination assessments. Our laboratory is also IANZ accredited to NZS 8510:2017 for the analysis of methamphetamine in environmental wipes.

There are typically a few stages involved in testing for methamphetamine contamination.

The first stage is the screening assessment which determines whether methamphetamine residue is present or absent within a property. Screening assessments are often quick and require fewer samples to be collected, making this type of sampling relatively cheap. Samplers conducting screening assessments need to hold the relevant NZQA Unit Standards or be Accredited Samplers by being accredited by IANZ. All of our samplers are Accredited Samplers.

If a screening assessment suggests that there could be at least one surface above the limit of 1.5 µg/100cm2* (micrograms per 100 square centimetres), a detailed assessment will need to be conducted. These assessments require a specified number of samples to be collected in order to accurately assess the extent of the contamination. Detailed assessments can only be conducted by Accredited Samplers. Our sampling for detailed assessments is IANZ accredited to NZS 8510:2017. p test house

If a detailed assessment yields any results above 1.5 µg/100cm2*, decontamination by professional contractors will need to be conducted to bring contamination below the Standard level. After this decontamination is finished, a post-decontamination assessment will need to be undertaken in order to ensure that all surfaces are below 1.5 µg/100cm2*. Post-decontamination assessments can only be undertaken by Accredited Samplers. Our sampling for post-decontamination is IANZ accredited to NZS 8510:2017.