ABSTRACT
A good quality control (QC) program of one analytical laboratory involves a number of practices. QC is a set of measures within a sample analysis methodology to assure that the process is in control. As all parts of a quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) program, QC requirements are also divided into two groups: field and laboratory QC checks. The goal of the QC of the field operation is to check for contamination during sample collection. A field blank is collected, preserved, documented, and transported in the same manner as the samples. Trip blank check is recommended when collecting samples for volatile organic compounds. Duplicate samples are collected at the same time from the same source. Detection limits are the smallest concentration of an analyte of interest that can be measured with a stated probability of significance. The method detection limit (MDL) is the smallest concentration of the analyte of interest.
