By Article written by Tom Coyner, President, Analytical Products Group
Complete article from Edition 34 APG eNewsletter
All EPA methods have a Quality Control section which usually requires several cross checks of
method performance. These include Continuing Calibration Standards, Blanks, Duplicates, Matrix
Spikes, and Laboratory Control Standards (LCS). Only the LCS is designed to actually monitor the
performance of the method. The other components measure instrument drift, matrix effects, or
contamination issues.
While all environmental laboratories run an elaborate Quality Control system, few invest the
time or effort to gain much from the data generated. In fact many labs simply run QC to meet EPA
guidelines and ignore the data. If it’s within the required guidelines it’s great and let’s move
on to the next analysis. This is unfortunate because taking the time to look at the data and
understand the results could help labs not only improve the quality of their data but also decrease
costs by avoiding future QC failures. This doesn’t take much effort, just a little common sense and an understanding of how the analytical process fits together.
APG through presentations at State and national meetings has been teaching labs to effectively
use LCS data for Quality improvement for more than 24 years. We are expanding our Quality training
activities in 2005 and 2006 to include not only Quality Control, methods validation, and calibration but
to also add sections on PT performance tracking and laboratory business development. If you have an
interest in Quality Control training give us a call.
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