LAC 48:V.8029. Required Laboratory Personnel Policies

A. Every certified laboratory and laboratories seeking certification shall have sufficient properly qualified personnel commensurate with the workload and types of tests or analyses required to be performed for the parameters for which the laboratory is certified, or is seeking certification, pursuant to the requirements of this Chapter; and Chapters IV and VI of the USEPA Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water. 1. General requirements for technical staff. The management of a certified laboratory or laboratory seeking certification shall ensure the competency of all technical staff employed by the laboratory. a. An environmental laboratory certified under this Chapter or seeking certification under this Chapter shall have sufficient personnel with the necessary education, training, technical knowledge, and experience for their assigned functions. b. Each technical staff member of the environmental laboratory certified under this Chapter or seeking certification under this Chapter shall be responsible for complying with all quality assurance/quality control requirements that pertain to their organization/technical function. c. Each technical staff member must have a combination of experience and education to adequately demonstrate a specific knowledge of their particular function, and a general knowledge of laboratory operations, analytical procedures, quality assurance/quality control, and records management. d. The department will consider that the accountability for negligence, the falsification of data, records or instrument parameters will rest upon the analyst, the laboratory management and parent company. B. Current employee records shall be maintained, which shall include a résumé documenting each employee's training, experience, duties, and date or dates of relevant employment. 1. Evidence must be on file that demonstrates all employees are aware of and are using the latest edition of the laboratory's in-house quality documentation. 2. Training courses or workshops on specific equipment, analytical techniques or laboratory procedures that relate to employee's job responsibilities shall all be documented. 3. Analyst training shall be considered up-to-date when documentation in the files indicate acceptable performance of a blind sample (singly blind to the analyst) at least once per year and a certification that technical personnel have read, understood, and agreed to perform the most recent version of the method, the approved method (if applicable) or standard operating procedure. C. Data Integrity Training. Data integrity training shall be provided as a formal part of new employee orientation and shall also be provided on an annual basis for all current employees.