Quality Assurance / Quality Control Implementation Support
HSW Engineering, Inc. provides quality assurance (QA) support to the South Florida Water Management District under the Science and Technology Support Services Contract, Laboratory Quality Assurance and Quality Control Implementation Support. These professional services and deliverables include:
On-site data validation, data management, and data investigations for field and analytical data generated in association with the District’s water quality analysis division.
Generation of technical SOPs, including SOPs for conducting performance evaluations of low level mercury in sediment and fish tissue, conducting laboratory audits, and implementing systems for document control.
Interlaboratory comparisons of analytical performance in which statistical methods are used to evaluate the analytical results of multiple participating laboratories.
Auditing of commercial environmental laboratories (over 20 audits completed since April 2006) and generation of detailed audit reports.
Preparation of quality assessment reports, including a comprehensive assessment of the quality of data generated by the District’s internal laboratory and multiple contract laboratories during each water year (nearly 400,000 data points produced by multiple laboratories downloaded, evaluated and/or categorized by quality issue using tools such as Microsoft Access and statistical methods and supported by detailed narrative, figures, and tables).
Training workshops for District contractors in the use of ADaPT® automated data review software and automated data management tools (HSW SoTo).
Design and creation of a DVD training course called “Ethics in Environmental Sampling and Analysis.”
As-needed technical assistance to District employees or their contractors, including evaluation of alternative methods of analysis and quantitation of complex analytes such as toxaphene and chlordane, evaluation of analyses and quantitation techniques for data used in risk analysis (e.g., chlorinated pesticides such as DDT and its isomers and degradation products), and investigation into data inconsistent with historical data (e.g., selenium and trihalomethanes) or at odds with split sample results.
