Asbestos: practices that need improving for some of the participants in the ALASCA MET inter-laboratory test.

In order to be accredited by COFRAC (the French accreditation body) and to act within French regulations, organisations who measure asbestos fibre dustiness at the work station are obliged to take part every year in the inter-laboratory test for counting asbestos fibres by Analytical Transmission Electron Microscopy organised by INRS. This article gives an inventory of the practices of the participating laboratories, based on the assessment of the last ten years, and more particularly on the results given in 2014. For certain accredited laboratories, the anomalies observed are alarming and raise questions about compliance with the accreditation requirements. Counting the number of asbestos fibres thoroughly is a major issue for public health and occupational health, and abnormal and inacceptable practices in such counting need to be improved rapidly.