Investigating Improper Laboratory Practice: An Ounce of Prevention …
Identifying and Combatting Inappropriate Laboratory Practices
Oral Presentation
Prepared by C. Appleby1, S. Myer2
1 - U.S. EPA/OLEM/OSRTI/ASB, 980 College Station Rd, F104-2, Athens, GA, 30607, United States
2 - U.S. EPA/OLEM/OSRTI/ASB, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, MC5203P, Washington, DC, 20460, United States
Contact Information: appleby.charlie@epa.gov; 703-405-0057
ABSTRACT
Over the years, the Contract Laboratory Program has dealt with a number of cases of improper laboratory practice. In most of them, the discovery came by way of a routine electronic data audit of a randomly selected data package. In the majority of cases, a single analyst was responsible, but in other cases, it was the organization. Each case, however, was different that the others, and therefore a great deal of effort is required to create and to deploy multiple tools to detect the signs of improper practice. Our concerns about data quality could be allayed if it were easier to do the right thing than to resort to improper practices. In this presentation, we will focus on strategies to the problem from a different angle, and the role each of us can play.
Identifying and Combatting Inappropriate Laboratory Practices
Oral Presentation
Prepared by C. Appleby1, S. Myer2
1 - U.S. EPA/OLEM/OSRTI/ASB, 980 College Station Rd, F104-2, Athens, GA, 30607, United States
2 - U.S. EPA/OLEM/OSRTI/ASB, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, MC5203P, Washington, DC, 20460, United States
Contact Information: appleby.charlie@epa.gov; 703-405-0057
ABSTRACT
Over the years, the Contract Laboratory Program has dealt with a number of cases of improper laboratory practice. In most of them, the discovery came by way of a routine electronic data audit of a randomly selected data package. In the majority of cases, a single analyst was responsible, but in other cases, it was the organization. Each case, however, was different that the others, and therefore a great deal of effort is required to create and to deploy multiple tools to detect the signs of improper practice. Our concerns about data quality could be allayed if it were easier to do the right thing than to resort to improper practices. In this presentation, we will focus on strategies to the problem from a different angle, and the role each of us can play.
