The cement and concrete reference laboratory inspection service is primarily a field activity and virtually all of the work involved is accomplished during visits to established laboratories in the United States, Canada, or Puerto Rico. The work performed by the inspectors generally consists of the examination of testing apparatus, observation of test procedures, and the collection of miscellaneous pertinent information. The principal operations involved in the inspection of a concrete testing laboratory could be described as follows: (1) examination of the salient features of the laboratory workroom; (2) inspection and measurement of apparatus used in the slump test; (3) inspection and measurement of cylinder molds; (4) examination of moist storage facilities; (5) examination of capping equipment; (6) verification of compression testing machines and inspection and measurement of their bearing blocks; (7) inspection of miscellaneous pieces of apparatus such as platform scales, concrete mixers, and timing devices; and (8) observation of the methods used in mixing test batches, making slump tests, and in fabricating, capping and breaking concrete cylinders. The Cement and Concrete Reference Laboratory does not issue a rating or a certificate to the laboratory on the basis of the inspection. However, considerable data has been presented to show that periodic inspections of cement testing laboratories have helped to bring about and maintain a high degree of standardization in methods and equipment.
