Environment Agency - Home

Emissions monitoring from chimney stacks using accredited laboratories and certified staff

Emissions monitoring from chimney-stacks should only be carried out by accredited test laboratories, using certified staff, or industrial companies with their own certified staff.

Accreditation of laboratories and certification of staff comes under the MCERTS Manual Stack Emissions Monitoring scheme. This two-part scheme ensures that industrial chimney stack monitoring is performed to an appropriate and consistent standard.

Find an accredited laboratory

Laboratories are listed on the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) website. Visit it by clicking on the link below, then enter 'MCERTS' into the search field and choose 'stack emissions'.

Information for laboratories and how to become accredited

Accreditation is carried out by UKAS on our behalf. Laboratories must prove they meet our requirements for manual stack emissions monitoring.

Information for personnel and how to become certified

Certification is based on a person's experience, training and knowledge. It is carried out by the Sira Certification Service on our behalf. Please email mcerts@siraenvironmental.com for information on how to make an application.

Find out about the personnel competency standard for manual stack-emission monitoring:

Read the exam syllabuses for manual stack-emission monitoring:

MCERTS bulletins and updates

Further information

Please email rupert.standring@environment-agency.gov.uk for more information about this scheme.