2. Guidelines for a Quality Assurance Program
Develop a QA program to meet the laboratory’s specific needs and the planned use of the data. Emphasis on the use of data is particularly important where significant and costly decisions depend on analytical results. An effective QA program will confirm the quality of results and increase in the data.
a. Management responsibilities: Management must recognize the need for quality assurance, commit monetary and personnel resources, assume a leadership role, and involve staff in development and operation of the QA program. Management should meet with the laboratory supervisor and staff to develop and maintain a comprehensive program and establish specific responsibility for management, supervisors, and analysts.
b. Quality assurance officer: In large laboratories, a QA officer has the authority and responsibility for application of the QA program. Ideally, this person should have a line position reporting directly to upper management, not a line position. The QA officer should have a technical education, be acquainted with all aspects of laboratory work, and be familiar with statistical techniques for data evaluation. The QA officer is responsible for initiating the program, convincing staff of its value, and providing necessary information and training to the staff .Once the QA program is functioning, the coordinator conducts frequent(weekly to monthly) reviews with the laboratory supervisor and staff to determine thecurrent status and accomplishments of the program and toidentify and resolve problems. The QA officer also repots periodically to management to secure backing in actions necessary to correct problems that threaten data quality
c. Staff: Laboratory and fieldstaffs participate with management in planning the QA program, implementing the QC program in their daily tasks of collecting samples, conducting analyses , performing quality control checks, and calculating and reporting results. Because the staffs are the first to see potential problems, they should identify them and work with the supervisor to correct and avoid them. It is critical to the success of the QA program that staff understand and actively support it.