Sample Control Q. Do I have to prepare a Chain of Custody form for every sample that I collect in the field or create in the lab?
Not necessarily. The following specific guidance has been provided, “When a sample is generated within a single laboratory environment and does not leave that environment, the sample should be treated the same as any controlled sample which has been received for analysis or processing in that it must be uniquely identified and tracked through its life cycle. However, in that instance, sample control documentation may be made in controlled Scientific Notebooks rather than on Chain of Custody forms. Therefore, Chain of Custody forms do not need to be prepared when samples are created in the laboratory. However, identities of the samples must be assigned and recorded at that time in the Scientific Notebook, and those samples must be marked or labeled with their identity (see NP 13-1, “Control of Samples and Standards”). Chain of Custody forms must be prepared (or additional entries made on them) only when the custody of samples is transferred from one person to another (i.e. collected in
