Filling A Communication Gap: How California ELAP is Regaining Trust from its Stakeholder Communities

Effectively Communicating Scientific Information
Oral Presentation

Prepared by

Contact Information: katelyn.mccarthy@waterboards.ca.gov; 916-322-7902


ABSTRACT

There are many clients for laboratory accreditation programs and communication with those clients is as important for an effective program as the assessments themselves. Following feedback from an Expert Review Panel that correctly recognized that California’s Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program was siloed – there was little to no communication coming from the program to either its accredited laboratories or the state regulatory agencies that were using laboratory data – ELAP set out to revamp program practices and attitudes to regain the trust that had been lost over years of broken communication. This presentation will detail the process ELAP went through to establish relationships with critical stakeholder groups and lessons learned along the way.