Air Monitoring Quality Assurance Manual

This page last reviewed February 25, 2011

Air Monitoring Quality Assurance Manual 
Volume III: Laboratory Standard Operating Procedures

The laboratory standard operating procedures (SOPs) for ambient samples are documents which describe the steps necessary to conduct a measurement and the critical parameters to be evaluated during an analysis. The Standards Laboratory SOPs are documents that provide the steps necessary for conducting verifications of ozone and flow rate primary standards, calibrations and certifications of ozone and flow rate transfer standards, and certification of compressed gas cylinders. 

As part of the quality control manual, the SOPs set out detailed steps that implement the general guidance of the manual. SOPs are written such that a chemist or laboratory technician with experience in a particular technique can follow the procedure and obtain the same result as another similarly trained chemist or technician. By their nature, the written SOPs are specific to the Air Resources Board laboratories because they describe the actual instrumentation and equipment used. Mention of specific equipment and products do not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use by the Air Resources Board.