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Quality director reports blind‑QC success, new workflow and upcoming ANAB training
Summary
Quality director Jacqueline Morale told the HFSC board the blind-quality-control program met its recent goals, described a new Ideagen workflow for suspected blinds and reported no nonconformances in a recent property/evidence accreditation surveillance; HFSC will host ANAB forensic technical assessor training in February.
Jacqueline Morale, HFSC’s quality director, told the board the lab met its blind-quality-control submission goals for November and December and has added an Ideagen workflow to capture suspected blind discoveries and associated red flags. "We implemented the suspected blind QC notification workflow; we got five notifications and two were actual blinds," Morale said, adding that the workflow routes notifications to management and helps the division run centralized reports.
Morale described the blind program’s purpose: to create items that look like case evidence so analysts’ regular processes can be assessed without front‑loading knowledge that a sample is a test. She said the blind program helps identify process gaps and analyst proficiency before errors appear in casework.
On accreditation, Morale said the client services/property and evidence section passed a surveillance document review with no nonconformances and remains accredited by ANAB. She also announced HFSC will host ANAB’s forensic technical assessor training (virtual sessions during Feb. 11–14) with about 30 participants; Morale said hosting helps build staff familiarity with ISO/ANAB assessment expectations.
Board members asked clarifying questions about how blind samples move through casework and how many submitted blind items had been analyzed; Morale explained that blind items are assigned and analyzed like regular cases and therefore may sit in the backlog queue until worked. She closed noting the program gives the lab confidence to detect process issues internally rather than in real casework.
The presentation concluded with thanks from the board and no formal board action on accreditation or training beyond acknowledging the update.
