HFSC outlines upcoming accreditation surveillance, disclosures and training issues

HFSC’s quality and accreditation update to the board covered external audits, recent disclosures and internal changes to prevent recurrence.

The board heard that an A2LA (or equivalent) desk audit — described as a “surveillance assessment without witnessing” — will occur the week of July 7–11 and that HFSC expects a full reassessment next year. The surveillance assessment will focus on lab‑wide systems such as internal audits, management review and the performance‑monitoring program (including proficiency tests and blind samples).

Disclosures reviewed by the Texas Forensic Science Commission

HFSC recounted two disclosures that TFSC reviewed at its April 11 meeting. The first involved two blind quality‑control samples that were mistakenly uploaded into CODIS; HFSC said it removed the profiles and that the hits did not affect open investigations. The lab implemented process changes to mark blind samples electronically and said it had stopped using those particular blood blind samples.

The second disclosure involved a crime‑scene‑investigator trainee who performed unsupervised casework — including latent print processing on a magazine and comparative photography — before completing required supervised training. HFSC told the board the trainee is no longer employed and that the commission determined the lab’s root‑cause analysis and corrective actions were satisfactory; TFSC required no further action.

Why it matters: accreditation surveillance and the disclosures reinforce the need for robust supervision, internal audit and blind testing to detect both process and manufacturing issues. HFSC told the board it aims to be preventive rather than reactive and has annotated potential nonconformances in audits to manage future risk.

Ending

HFSC said it will provide an update after the July surveillance assessment and continue to refine internal controls, proficiency testing and blind programs to reduce risk of recurrence.