Quality Assurance—Ethics
By Ginger Collins and Scott Echols
“A good test to determine if a contemplated action is ethical is to ask, ‘Would I want to see it in the headlines tomorrow morning?’”
One of the cornerstones of CH2M HILL’s success has been the unwavering commitment of our employees to the highest ethical principles. CH2M HILL co-founder Jim Howland summed it up best with this definition of ethics in his Little Yellow Book.
Ethical principles are also one of the cornerstones of a good laboratory quality assurance program. All laboratories working under the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC), as well as those that have Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence (AFCEE) accreditations, are required to document ethics training for laboratory staff.
ASL provides annual ethics training to all laboratory staff to ensure they meet NELAC and AFCEE accreditation program requirements. This training includes a review of the laboratory’s Statement of Professional Conduct and Laboratory Practice, which summarizes expected ethical conduct standards within the laboratory.
Topics covered include:
- Documenting data review procedures
- Procedures for proper manual-integration chromatography
- Data reporting standards
- How to properly correct mistakes
- What to do with questions or concerns about ethics
Employees are also reminded about the CH2M HILL Business Conduct Policy and how to access the company’s guidelines on the intranet.
If you have questions regarding ASL’s ethics training, please contact Ginger Collins at 541.768.3111.