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Our laboratory staff is keenly aware of the crippling effect a few individual's acts of fraud have had on other labs. Most of our key staff has been with the company 3-15 years.
All staff sign and abide by an ethics and integrity agreement regarding data handling practices, a confidentiality agreement, and an agreement to abide by the protocols and policies of the Caltest Quality Assurance Manual, and the employee handbook. Each monthly staff meeting we re-iterate the critical importance of maintaining the highest standards of integrity with regards to our data. We separate the making of mistakes (which will happen), as something we note and correct, from fraudulent practices in which there is intent to deceive.
Providing good data has at least two fundamental philosophical components. One is maintaining a well-trained, well-equipped staff with proper direction and management towards meeting the agreed upon methods and QC criteria. The second is to structure the operation of the business to not provide the environment that leads to a greater probability of fraud. This second component is addressed by the standard procedures of requiring sign off of work etc. but those quality assurance manual bullet points are not enough. More important among labs with equivalent QA/QC policies is the management of sales and the manner in which the lab makes commitments to bring in additional work.
This is very relevant to the issue of how likely is it that a lab will end up involved with data fraud. Caltest's criteria for acceptance of new work require consulting with the analytical staff to confirm the labs' ability to take in the proposed work and meet hold time and client specific QC criteria. This policy has been a cornerstone of not setting the lab up for failure. Another key component to minimizing the potential for fraud is controlling the sales efforts. Where sales staff are given the job of getting work in the door with little correlation to the lab's ability to complete the work, overcapacity creates an exceptional back-pressure to get the data out (more than 'normal' production concerns), possibly leading to staff cutting corners or outright fraud. We avoid this at Caltest. The general manager (responsible for the overall health of the company) is in charge of marketing and sales. No one is paid sales commissions at Caltest. The general manager and project managers coordinate all new work with the lab director and department coordinators. This process has protected our clients from overselling of lab capacity.
Our targets for increased sales are long term, stable clients requiring higher levels of commitment and service than typical off the street commercial work. This type of client appreciates the service our staff provides, and in turn, allows us to continue on the plan of steady manageable growth as opposed to the wild ups and downs of straight commercial or government short term project work with high sample loads in short periods of time.
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