[Good laboratory practice in occupational hygiene]

Good laboratory practice (GLP) is the system that ensures quality assessment, defines the organization rules of institutions performing non-clinical studies in the area of human and environmental safety in general, and of chemicals and chemical preparations in particular as well as sets the conditions of planning, performing and monitoring of studies, the outcome of which is recorded, stored and reported. Occupational hygiene is an area of activities that involves anticipation, assessment and surveillance of health hazards in the work environment aimed at protecting health of workers and the population at large (IOHA). Assessment and control of harmful agents, which occur in the work environment, technological processes or methods of work should be carried out by research units (laboratories) with well documented competencies in the environment and/or biological monitoring, and those granted accreditation according to EN/ISO 17025. Anticipated risks should be based on analyses of physical, chemical and toxic properties of harmful agents, performed in line with the rules of good laboratory practice. Accredited laboratories and the quality of their tests are monitored by governmental agencies. The application of the GLP system provides: the opportunity to investigate analytical procedures and data (the documentation concerning each stage of a given analysis should ensure a complete reconstruction of the whole analytical process); the confirmed reliability of the results; the recognition of the results in European Union member states and by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); the opportunity to avoid repetition of analyses and studies; a better care of the human health and environment.