Whatever the design of the chain of custody tag, it should be made of 

 waterproof material and all entries on the tag should be made in ink that will 

 not smear when dampened. The mailing address and telephone number of the 

 collecting organization should appear on the custody tag, and the tag should 

 be arranged so that it can easily be filled out in the field. 



The tag presented in Figure 1 functions as both a sample identification 

 tag and as a chain of custody tag. If this tag is filled in correctly it will 

 satisfy the scientific and legal requirements for sample verification, and 

 also the legal requirements for establishment of a chain of custody. A brief 

 explanation of each of the entries on the sample tag depicted in Figure 1 

 follows. 



Sample Identification Tag 



Tag No : As a means of associating a particular group of samples with a 

 particular spill, each spill should be assigned a unique set of tag 

 numbers. 



Sample No : Once a sample number is assigned all further references to 

 that sample in field notebooks, laboratory notebooks, and elsewhere should be 

 prefaced by its sample number. 



Time : The approximate time that the sample was taken should be recorded. 



Date : The date that the sample was taken should be recorded. 



Sample Description : The sample description should be brief and concise. 



Preservative Used : The preservative used and the recommended method of 

 sample storage should be recorded. 



Collected By : The signature of the person who actually collected the 

 sample along with his or her address and affiliation, if different than that 

 of the organization charged with collecting the samples, should be recorded. 



Witnessed By : The signature of the person who witnesses the actual 

 taking of the sample along with his address and affiliation should be recorded. 



Remarks : A brief description of the sampling site and the sampling sta- 

 tion number should be recorded. 



Sample Chain of Custody 



Received From : The initials of the person from whom the sample was re- 

 ceived and his or her affiliation should be recorded. 



Received By : The initials of the person receiving the sample and his or 

 her affiliation should be recorded. 



Date : The date of the sample transfer should be recorded. 



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