Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC)

Quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) are the heart of environmental measurements. Through a plan of checks and balances and a mechanism to test those same checks, one can assess their accuracy and reliability. EPA and the States have outlined several types of measurements that you must do in order to maintain a reliable service. The three main measurements are spikes, blanks and duplicates.

We are adding new features to this website, which when complete, will allow you to document your QC measurements and will allow us to help you assess them. In addition, you will be able to produce the required control charts to show your state auditor or your clients in the event that you are audited. Regardless of whether your state performs on-site audits, you are expected to keep an eye on things and discover problems should they arise.

We have already provided a way for you to tell us when you have deployed duplicates (required in at least 10 percent of your tests), and we'll be adding the ability to add blanks and spikes, which are required 5 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

For those of you who are new to radon, duplicates are defined as two identical devices deployed in the same place (a few inches apart)at the same time to measure how well the devices agree with one another. Blanks are devices that are not exposed to room air, but are returned to the laboratory marked like they were real samples. These show whether there is any storage problems, shipping/handling issues, or laboratory contamination. Spikes are measurements made in a radon chamber to a known amount of radon and returned to the laboratory without telling them that they were in a chamber. The chamber will tell you how much radon was in the chamber and how to grade the measurements obtained from your lab.

Reliable Quality Assurance programs all use these checks, as well as others, to make sure that test reports to their clients are accurate. If you are new and need to develop your own Quality Assurance Plan (QAP), then contact Shawn Price to request a template available to our clients.