Getting CIPP Installation Paperwork Done Faster with Chain of Custody Forms

The Job Is Not Finished Until The Paperwork Is Done.

So, your crew has just completed your latest CIPP installation. Even though cured-in-place-pipe has become a routine rehabilitation technology for underground sewer and water infrastructure, many CIPP installations can still present unique challenges. This last installation was full of those “unique” challenges.

Not only was equipment deployment adjacent to a the golf course tricky to begin with, the weatherman didn’t quite get the forecast right too and your bypass pumps barely kept up with all of the rain that fell from the “partly cloudy” sky.

But that’s all behind you now. The liner is installed and you’re done for the day. Good planning and an experienced crew got the job done and you’re back at the shop putting away your equipment, finishing off your paperwork and planning your next day’s deployment.

Hopefully you haven’t forgot to identify and document your field sample for the day’s installations. The owner or the contract administrator of the project will be looking for the test report for these field samples in order to confirm that the CIPP liners that you’ve installed complied with their contract requirements.

Frequently the testing laboratory will receive a CIPP field sample which has insufficient information for the laboratory to process the sample and provide a test report. This can cause delays while the laboratory makes inquiries to obtain the missing information. Occasionally the work instructions will be unclear and the wrong tests might end up being performed. One other common problem becomes evident at the end of a contract when the owner or the contract administrator comes looking for missing test reports and you don’t have a ready list of samples which you’ve submitted for testing.

To prevent these types of hang-ups, it’s always preferable that field samples be accompanied by a chain of custody (COC) form. At a minimum the COC form should describe who the client is, the purchase order number for the testing work, a description of the tests which are required, the identity of the field sample and the identity and contact information of the test report recipients and finally the identities of individuals who prepared the form and who received the samples on behalf of the testing lab. The laboratory should receive an original COC form with each sample or batch of samples and you should retain a copy for your records.

This can seem to be a lot of work, especially since most of it is usually done at the very end of the work day when everyone just wants to get home. So to simplify the workload for our clients, Paragon Systems Testing provides CIPP project specific chain of custody forms to its clients. The COC form is configured to make it easy for a crew supervisor to document all of the information which the laboratory requires to quickly and efficiently process the field sample and to identify the specific installation to the owner or contract administrator in the final test report.

If you haven’t got one yet, give a shout or drop us an email and we’d be happy to get you one of our CIPP chain of custody forms.