bullet proof data sets for environmental litigation
TRANSCRIPT
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Providing Bullet Proof Data Sets for Litigation Matters
Court Sandau, PhD, PChem
Presented on January 21, 2011
Exova Environmental Seminar – Calgary
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Easiest thing to Attack is Data Quality
• Occam's razor - the simplest explanation or strategy tends to be the best one
Franciscan friar, William of Ockham
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Not an approved sample container!
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Sampling is the easiest thing for a legal case to attack.
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The Foundation of All Environmental Investigations
Litigation
Remediation & Risk Assessment
Site Investigation Phase I, II, III
Data Quality Precision, Accuracy, Reproducibility, Comparability, Representative,
Collected Properly, Documented, COC
Pro
gres
sion
of I
nves
tigat
ion
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• Data quality is the foundation of all environmental investigations
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Responses to Data Quality
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• Data quality assurance and quality control (QA-QC) is this least ‘sexy’ part of the investigation
• Rarely completed – usually just trust the laboratory results as reported
• If completed, done after the interpretation – Should be completed before interpretation and immediately
after data is received (in case there is an issue with the data)
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Investigation Road Map
Field Event
Sampling Design
Reporting
DQOs
QAPP
Laboratory Analysis
Data Review
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6P Rule
Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
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“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!” Benjamin Franklin
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Data Flow for Environmental Investigations
Data Generation and Review
Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP)
Requirements Identified
External Parties Validation of the
Laboratory Analytical Data (Not the Lab)
Project Scope Defined Field Activities
Laboratory Analysis
Data Quality Assessment Data Usability
Data Repository e.g., Database
(General or Project)
Data may support future project needs
QAPP Analytical requirements sent to lab
Samples + COC info
Analytical Data
Package
Validated Analytical
Data
Data on Sample Location
Field Logs Information
Project Decision(s) +
Supporting Data
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Science Experiment
• All environmental investigations should be treated as a science experiment:
Design (hypothesis, to answer a question)
Data (correct, enough) Controls (to know validity of data and
uncertainty)
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Case Background • Local residents alleged exposure to contaminants
from local wood treatment facility • They initiated a class action lawsuit • PAHs, dioxins/furans, metals – main chemicals of
concern • Representing the defendant • Both plaintiffs and defendants collect their own
data
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Choice of Sampling Locations
Plaintiffs • Sampled oldest houses
in the town • Sampled homes closest
to plant
Defendants • Sampled homes of all
ages and areas of town, including “background” locations
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Reference/background sampling very important to establish if impacts occurred.
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Sampling Strategy
• Composite or discrete • Statistical / Judgmental / Opportunistic
Hotspot < 100m2 Define Average Conc. 95% Confident
not Contaminated
Systematic grid Systematic grid Random
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Click this link to view a case study with legal sampling and systematic grid sampling.
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Sampling Strategy • Best to have strategy before heading to site • Non-biased, statistical sampling is best • If judgmental sampling
– Is the person qualified to make the judgments
– Are the judgments being documented – reasons why?
• Data will be used years later as legal cases do not move quickly
– Remember that one person’s judgment may be different than another
• Must be able to defend choices
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Choice of Sampling Technique
Plaintiffs - Vacuum bought at local
store then rigged up to collect samples
Defendants - Used US-EPA developed
vacuum design - Followed ASTM Method
D5438–05 protocol for sampling
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Sampling Procedures • Always use standardized or
validated sampling (operating) procedures
• Always have an SOP written and at the site
• Have staff read and sign they have read and understood the SOP
• Check to make sure staff are following the SOPs
• Video the sampling of contentious sites – valuable for documenting procedures in court.
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Sample Containers
Plaintiffs • Used water bottles, cut in
half and taped together with duct tape
Defendants • EPA approved glass,
certified clean sample jars
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Convenience cannot override science and proper sample preservation.
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Sample Containers
• Never use water bottles to collect a sample
• Use appropriate containers – Selected based on
contaminant being analyzed • Is preservative necessary? • How full does container need to
be? – Headspace, no headspace – Will sample be frozen
• Tamper proof seal to demonstrate sample integrity
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Sampling Locations
Plaintiffs • Collected dust from
normally inaccessible attic spaces
Defendants • Sampled carpet in
living areas of the homes
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Sampling
• Why are you taking the sample? • What are the CoCs? • What is your conceptual site
model? – What exposure are you
worried about or trying to represent?
• Is the sampling technique appropriate for the model/guideline?
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Sample Pre/Post-Treatment
Plaintiffs • Sample was submitted as is.
Contained debris not related to matrix being sampled (dust).
Defendants • Need to represent human exposure
which is <120 um particles • Sieved to ASTM standard 422-63
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Sample Pre/Post-Treatment
• Does sample require preservative? • Does sample need to be sieved prior to
putting in sample bottle? Sieved by lab? – Remove rocks – Remove organic matter (roots/grass)
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Documentation
Plaintiffs • Little documentation, no SOPs,
legal chain of custody not followed
Defendants • Lots of picture • Great field notes • SOPs written and followed • Sampling plan developed before
site visit • Legal chain of custody followed
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Company Case Name
Company Logo
Address
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Documentation
Sampling Forms Field Notes COCs Maps • Pictures, videos • GPS coordinates of sampling points and site characteristics 22 www.chemistry-matters.com
Company LOGO
Company LOGO
Company LOGO
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Field investigation of groundwater well showed toluene present in the residential water sample. Field notes documented electrical tape on water pump and pictures showed tape present. Conducted laboratory experiment to prove glue from electrical tape contains toluene.
• Good field notes • Observations from experiment • Can track issues noted in an assessment
Field Notes & Documentation
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Field Notes and Forms - Completeness
• No empty fields • Completeness/thoroughness is key • Data blanks make it look incomplete or careless • Questioning whether procedures were followed • Sloppiness (e.g. wrong number of samples on COC) is
unacceptable • Data used months to years after the fact
– Sometimes new consultant needs to use the data
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Field Work
• Completeness and thoroughness takes time • Cannot rush – easy to forget or miss something • Developing SOPs and checklists for on-site
activities is a good way to develop a “system” • Systems, once in place, provide efficiencies and
long term consistency
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Legal Chain of Custody
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Maintaining Custody
From a legal perspective, a sample is under custody if:
• the sample is in a person’s possession
• the sample is in a person’s view after being in possession
• the sample was in the person’s possession and then was locked up to prevent tampering
• the sample is in a designated secure area
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Chain of Custody
• Should be filled out in completion
• All samples accounted for – Lab issues – Loss of
custody • COC used for
future reference
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Company LOGO
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Item Yes If no.... Are samples properly contained and chemically
preserved? Correct
Are samples properly labeled? Correct
Initials of collector, time, date of collection? Correct
Are samples properly sealed? Correct
Is necessary preservative present, i.e. ice? Correct
Has chain of custody form been completed? Correct
Does chain of custody information match sample labels? Correct
Copy of chain of custody form taped to cooler lid and maintained inside cooler in whirlpack bag?
Correct
Samples properly packaged to withstand breakage? Correct
Are coolers custody sealed? Correct
Was storage temperature maintained between sample collection and lab receipt
May require resampling
Sample Packaging: Cooler Check List
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Thermochron
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
24-Nov-08
25-Nov-08
26-Nov-08
27-Nov-08
28-Nov-08
29-Nov-08
30-Nov-08
1-Dec-08
2-Dec-08
3-Dec-08
Date
Tem
pera
ture
(° C
)
Samples collected
Samples moved to freezer
Samples moved to shipping cooler
Samples received
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Tracks and documents temperature of samples once collected.
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Relinquishing COC
• Each person that handles samples until (including) receipt at lab must sign/date COC
• Best to have samples sorted for laboratory receipt
• Best practices should have samples grouped by analysis being requested – Don’t need sorting issue to be a problem after all
the effort put into collecting samples
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% Recoveries Told the Story Minimum and Maximum PAH Standard Recoveries
100
300
500
700
900
Rec
over
y (%
)
Soil Attic Dust
House Dust
146%
965%
138%
65% 44%
EPA Maximum Recovery 150%
EPA Minimum Recovery 25% 0%
PLAIN
TIFF DATA
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What About QA-QC Samples?
• Do you need trip and/or field blanks? – Submit as blind samples
• Do you need a duplicate? – Submit as a blind duplicate
• Do you need to understand analytical variability? – Lab duplicate, injection duplicate?
• Do you need to prove accuracy? – Reference materials (certified or secondary)
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Precision Measured with duplicate samples
• Field duplicates – measures sampling, extraction, analytical error
• Laboratory duplicates – measures extraction, analytical error
• Injection duplicates – measures analytical/instrument error
Injection RM Field
Laboratory A 15.8% 10.2% 24.4%
Laboratory B 1.4% 23.7% 9.4%
Injection Duplicate
Lab Duplicate
Field Duplicate
% V
aria
bilit
y
0
10
20
30
40
50
RPD for Sampling Duplicates
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Types of Duplicates What do they tell you?
0% 5%
10% 15% 20% 25% 30%
Injection Duplicate Standard
RM Duplicate Field
Duplicate Injection Duplicate Sample
Inst
rum
ent V
aria
bilit
y
Inst
rum
ent V
aria
bilit
y +
mat
rix
Mat
rix
Met
hod
Varia
bilit
y
Sam
plin
g, M
atrix
and
M
etho
d Va
riabi
lity
Mat
rix E
ffect
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Duplicate samples can identify where the variability is in your study.
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Data Validation Terminology
To help minimize ambiguity and increase consistency, USEPA has put forth the following terminology regarding data verification and validation:
Stage 1 Validation
• Completeness check and compliance of sample receipt conditions
Stage 2A Validation
• Stage 1 + sample related QA-QC checks
Stage 2B Validation
• Stage 2A + instrument QA-QC checks
Stage 3 Validation
• Stage 2B + recalculation checks
Stage 4 Validation
• Stage 3 + review of actual instrument outputs
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Responsibility of Legal Sampling • Samples should be collected, handled,
packaged, and tested in accordance with a checklist of procedures contained in a sampling plan – Part of a QAPP
• You may be required to identify the sample collected and to explain the sampling procedures that were followed.
• Mistakes or deficiencies in procedures may damage the evidence/data presented.
• If a mistake in procedure has been made: – the mistake should be recorded and a
fresh start at sampling should be initiated • If a mistake has occurred, under no
circumstances should you attempt to cover up the mistake or continue with your sampling procedures in the hope that the mistake will not be noticed.
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Investigation Road Map
Field Event
Sampling Design
Reporting
DQOs
QAPP
Laboratory Analysis
Data Review
Data Quality - How to control? - Why check?
-3rd Party review -implications of data quality
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Questions? Contact Info: Chemistry Matters Inc. Court Sandau Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Chem_Matters Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/csandau
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