Chain-of-custody mold testing

Chain-of-custody (CoC) in mold testing is a written and physical record demonstrating that a sample was collected at a specific location, sealed against tampering, transported under controlled conditions, and analyzed without compromise. CoC is the foundation of any defensible testing report. Without it, the report can be impeached at deposition as having an undocumented sample-handling gap. Our chain-of-custody protocol includes: photographic documentation of each sample at point of collection with timestamp and GPS coordinates; tamper-evident sealed sample containers with unique serial identifier; written CoC form signed by the inspector at collection and counter-signed by the lab analyst at receipt; courier or USPS Priority Mail tracking number archived; lab handling log retrieved and appended to the final report; and final report citing the CoC by serial identifier. For litigation work we add: video documentation at site intake, dual-witness sample seal where possible, redundant CoC (paper + digital), and post-analysis QA/QC review by a second analyst at the lab.