Guidance for generating legally defensible data
A. Rosecrance, L. Kibler · OSTI OAI (U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information) · 1994
The current emphasis on enforcement to achieve compliance with environmental regulations places increased demands on environmental professionals to generate legally defensible data. Since any environmental data may potentially be used in civil or criminal litigation, it must be suitable for use as admissible evidence. Although data cannot be guaranteed to be legally defensible because the proof of defensibility can only be determined in actual legal proceedings, there are steps that can be taken to enhance or increase the chances of admissibility. In order for data to be defensible and of known and documented quality, all sampling and analysis activities must meet applicable technical standards and be fully documented. Record keeping must be stressed throughout all sampling and analysis activities; failure to keep proper records is a common allegation in enforcement actions and a cause for lack of data defensibility. Though there is extensive reference documentation on the requirements for technical data quality, there is limited guidance available on data defensibility procedures. This paper provides guidance to assist field samplers, laboratory personnel, and project managers in planning for and generating legally defensible data. A example checklist that can be used in the planning and verification stages of the data generation processmore » is provided.« less