Sampling Guides and Forms

We provide you with the highest quality sampling materials to ensure your samples arrive safely and within required temperature, eliminating timely delays and additional sampling costs.
- 99.93% of samples are intact, with no breakage, when shipped back to us.
We include detailed sampling instruction with each sample kit to ensure sample collection is performed in a manner that leads to the most accurate testing result and provides ease of use in the sampling process.
We offer experienced sample collection services.
Our rigorous procedures and guidelines for sample handling and storage ensure the highest level of sample integrity.

Submitting Samples

To ensure that submitting samples to Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environment Testing is a streamlined and straightforward process for our customers, we created a detailed step-by-step guide (shown below) on sample submission.

Please note: We’re staffed to receive your samples 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you have an emergency outside our normal business hours, contact our security group at 717-656-2300 and they will notify the appropriate personnel.

Step-by-Step Guide for Sample Submission

Step 1

General Guidelines for ordering sampling supplies

Communicate your order to your Primary Contact:
Bottle orders can be communicated via phone, email, or fax.
Bottles can also be provided in bulk per your request.
Please provide sufficient time for bottle preparation - 48 hours is ideal.

Information Needed:

Site location/ID.
The number of samples, matrix, and analyses needed.
Please include compound lists and methods (i.e., TCL volatiles by 8260B).
Soil preservation needed: 5035? Low level or high level (methanol), EnCores, TerraCores, etc.
DI water for field blanks needed?
Turnaround time needed - especially if rush.
Do you have special reporting limits or quality control requirements?
Shipping/courier contact, date and time of day (AM or PM) you need the bottles.
Date samples will be returned to the lab or date to schedule a courier pickup.
Who will receive the reports - fax, email, hard copies
Data deliverable requirements (electronic, data package) and contact information.
Name and address of invoice contact.
Any purchase order information needed for the invoice – PO, work order, etc.

Downloadable Forms:

Project Initiation Form

Bottle Order Request

Step 2

Sample Kits

Prelabeled, preserved bottles will be provided with the testing required and preservative.
Trip blanks will always be provided when volatile analyses are requested.
A Sample Container Record will accompany your bottle orders. The Sample Container Record (SCR) lists the number of sampling points for each type of sample and the number, preservative, and type of containers to be collected at each sampling point for the analyses requested. Please check your order against the Sample Container Record included with them. The holding time for each analysis is on the right side of the form.
Sample Preservation Kits which contain reagents and materials to check and correct pH can be provided upon request.
Sample kits will also contain: temperature blanks, COCs, packing material, return shipping labels, etc.

Downloadable Forms:

Sample Packing Instructions

Step 3

Chain-of-Custody Record

Collect the sample and fill out Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environment Testing chain-of-custody (COC) form that will be included with your bottles
Detailed instructions for completing a COC are printed on the back of each form.
The white and yellow copies are submitted with the samples. The pink is retained for your records. A copy will be returned to you with the analysis report.
Please prechill samples whenever possible to assure receipt at 4°C. Samples collected on Friday should be shipped for Saturday receipt.

Ship the kit to:
Attn: Sample Administration
Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environment Testing
2425 New Holland Pike
Lancaster, PA 17601

Downloadable Forms:

Analysis Request/Chain of Custody
How to Complete a COC

Confidence in Sample Receipt

You can trust that your samples will be safely handled once they arrive at Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories Environment Testing. Our rigorous procedures and guidelines for sample handling and storage ensure the highest level of sample integrity.

Sample delivery - Samples are received at the laboratory in one of three ways: by personal delivery, by mail or common carrier or by sample pickup by laboratory personnel. All samples are received by personnel of the Sample Administration Group, who alone are responsible for sample login and tracking.
Sample Unpacking - When a sample arrives at the lab it is delivered to our dedicated unpacking area. Our trained sample receipt staff unpack each cooler/package following a defined lab protocol.
- Procedures include documentation of:
  - cooler temperatures
  - condition upon arrival
  - arrival source (Fed Ex, lab courier, etc…)
  - time of arrival
  - any anomalies present (discrepancies between chain of custody and actual contents and/or identities of samples, breakage, or odors, etc.)
- All samples are cross-referenced against client-submitted paperwork. Any problems that require client resolution before sample login are communicated immediately to your Project Manager. Your Project Manager will contact you within 3 hours of the discovery of a sample receipt problem.
Sample Temperature - Samples are unpacked following strict guidelines, which require the temperature of all environmental samples to be recorded at the time of unpacking. Temperature bottles containing water are included in all kits or coolers we supply. These should be stored with the filled sample bottles and included in the return shipment of environmental samples. The temperature is measured by immersing a mercury thermometer into the bottle. The time the cooler was opened and the temperature of the temperature bottle will be recorded on the chain of custody. The temperature is recorded with thermometers that are annually calibrated against an NIST thermometer. When samples are received without a temperature bottle, a calibrated infrared thermometer will be used to check the surface temperature of one of the sample containers.
Sample Entry - As samples are unpacked, each sample group is kept separated on carts to prevent them from becoming commingled with other clients’ samples. If samples cannot be logged in to our computer system (LIMS) immediately they are placed in a temporary storage area (walk-in refrigerator) to keep the samples cold until login can occur. On average, samples are logged in to our system within 3 hours of receipt.

When samples are entered into our LIMS system they are assigned a unique sample number. They are then bar-coded into our automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) or sent directly to the lab performing the analysis.

We then will send you an acknowledgement listing all of the samples received and the analytical tests we are scheduled to perform.