OSAC Standards Bulletin – November 2020

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 November 2020

This Standards Bulletin from the Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSAC) for Forensic 

Science provides an update on:

• Standards moving through the OSAC Registry approval process.

• Standards moving through the development process at standards developing 

organizations (SDOs).

New standards placed on the OSAC Registry: 3

SDO documents published: 2

SDO documents open for comment: 9

OSAC REGISTRY UPDATES

The OSAC Registry is a repository of high-quality, technically sound 

published and proposed standards for forensic science. These written 

documents define minimum requirements, best practices, standard 

protocols and other guidance to help ensure that the results of forensic 

analysis are reliable and reproducible.

New Documents on the OSAC Registry

• ASTM E3233-20 Standard Practice for Forensic Tape Analysis Training Program.

• ASTM E3234-20 Standard Practice for Forensic Paint Analysis Training Program.

• ANSI/NIST ITL-1:2011 (update 2015) Data Format for the Interchange of Fingerprint, 

Facial & Other Biometric Information.
OSAC Standards Bulletin – November 2020

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Standards Under Consideration

Under Review by Scientific & Technical Review Panels (STRPs)

• 2020-S-001, Standard for Friction Ridge Examination Proficiency Testing Program.

• 2020-S-002, Physical Stability of Facial Features of Adults.

• 2020-S-003, Guideline for Performing Alcohol Calculations in Forensic Toxicology.

• 2020-S-004, Standard for Interpreting and Reporting DNA Test Results Associated with 

Failed Controls and Contamination Events.

At FSSB for Vote (OSAC Legacy Process for Registry Approval)

• ASTM E1388-17 Standard Practice for Static Headspace Sampling of Vapors from Fire 

Debris Samples.

• ASTM E1412-19 Standard Practice for Separation of Ignitable Liquid Residues from Fire 

Debris Samples by Passive Headspace Concentration with Activated Charcoal.

• ASTM E1413-19 Standard Practice for Separation of Ignitable Liquid Residues from Fire 

Debris Samples by Dynamic Headspace Concentration onto an Adsorbent Tube.

• ASTM E3189-19 Standard Practice for Separation of Ignitable Liquid Residues from Fire 

Debris Samples by Static Headspace Concentration onto an Adsorbent Tube.

For a list of all standards currently under Registry consideration, please visit the OSAC 

website. 

SDO UPDATES

Published

The following two documents have recently been published by an SDO: 

Has your organization already started implementing OSAC Registry standards? 

Complete OSAC’s Laboratory Implementation Declaration Form and send it 

to mark.stolorow@nist.gov to let us know. 

Share your implementation experience and be featured in a future OSAC news post.
OSAC Standards Bulletin – November 2020

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AAFS Standards Board (ASB):

• ASB Technical Report 051, Scope of Work for a Footwear/Tire Examiner, First Edition, 

2020. This document, initially drafted by OSAC’s Footwear & Tire Subcommittee and 

finalized by the ASB Footwear and Tire Consensus Body, covers the primary 

responsibilities, types of examinations, and constituent duties of a footwear/tire 

examiner for lab management, quality assurance, law enforcement and the judiciary.

ASTM:

• ASTM E1588-20 Standard Practice for Gunshot Residue Analysis by Scanning Electron 

Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectrometry. Revised by OSAC’s Ignitable Liquids, 

Explosives, & Gunshot Residue Subcommittee (formerly OSAC’s Gunshot Residue 

Subcommittee), this document covers the analysis of gunshot residue (GSR) by scanning 

electron microscopy/energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry (SEM/EDS). The analysis is 

performed using automated software control of both the SEM and EDS systems, to 

screen the sample for candidate particles that could be associated with GSR. Manual 

control of the instrument is then used to perform confirmatory analysis and 

classification of the candidate particles. This practice refers solely to the analysis of 

electron microscopy stubs.

Comment Period Open on Draft Documents 

ASB:

• ASB Best Practice Recommendation 008, Mass Fatality Scene Processing: Best Practice 

Recommendations for the Medicolegal Authority. This document provides definitions, 

guidelines, and best practices for the detection, processing, and recovery of physical and 

contextual evidence associated with mass fatality disaster scenes to ensure that 

evidence is carefully and consistently documented and recovered in situ. This document

focuses on terrestrial scenes that do not involve a significant hazardous materials 

component. Comment deadline November 16, 2020.

• ASB Standard 013, Standard for Friction Ridge Examination Conclusions. This standard 

defines terms and establishes qualitative expressions for the categories of conclusions 

that may be reached following friction ridge comparisons. Comment deadline 

November 16, 2020.

• Recirculation* – ASB Standard 134, Standard for Analyzing Pathological Conditions and 

Anomalies in Forensic Anthropology. This standard sets forth techniques and approaches 

for describing, documenting, interpreting, and reporting pathological conditions and 

anomalies from skeletal and dental material and/or radiographic images. Comment 

deadline November 16, 2020.

• ASB Standard 146, Standard for Resolving Commingled Remains in Forensic 

Anthropology. This document provides the procedures and requirements for resolving 

commingled remains. The techniques presented include size, age, and sex similarities, 

articulation between skeletal elements, taphonomic similarities, and reconstruction of 
OSAC Standards Bulletin – November 2020

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fragmentary remains. The document also describes the determination of MNI 

(Minimum Number of Individuals), as well as the LI (Lincoln Index) and MLNI (Most 

Likely Number of Individuals) based on the number of paired and unpaired bones. 

Comment deadline November 16, 2020.

• Recirculation* – ASB Best Practice Recommendation 114, Best Practice 

Recommendations for Internal Validation of Software Used in Forensic DNA 

Laboratories. This best practice recommendation assists a laboratory in designing 

internal validation studies to evaluate the various software programs used in the 

forensic DNA laboratory. This guidance document applies to, but is not limited to the

following: (a) software used as a component, part, or accessory of instrumentation; (b) 

software that impacts the chain of custody documentation; (c) software that impacts 

the decision process and/or influences conclusions or reporting; and (d) software 

created by the laboratory to assist with calculations and/or data transfers. Comment 

deadline November 26, 2020.

• Recirculation* – ASB Standard 027, Standard for Training and Certification of Canine 

Detection of Humans: Patrol Canine Team. This document provides standards for the 

training, certification, and documentation pertaining to canine teams (canine and

handler) trained to search for specific person(s), location(s), and/or article(s) by starting 

from the last known position. This pertains to trails less than 24 hours old. Comment 

deadline November 30, 2020.

• ASB Standard 132, Standard for Population Affinity in Estimation in Forensic 

Anthropology. This standard provides procedures for the estimation of population 

affinity from skeletal material. Specific methods and techniques are not included. This 

standard is not applicable to subadult skeletal remains, when cranial and postcranial

features are not fully developed. Comment deadline December 7, 2020.

• ASB Standard 127, Standard for the Preservation and Examination of Charred 

Documents. This document establishes the minimum required procedures used by 

Forensic Document Examiners (FDEs) in the preservation of, examination of, and 

reporting on charred documents. This generally includes the examination of charred 

documents for content (writing, printing), material (paper, cardboard, plastic etc.) and 

source determination. This does not include chemical examination of documents for 

accelerants or source of combustion. Comment deadline, December 14, 2020.

• ASB Standard 128, Standard for the Preservation and Examination of Liquid Soaked 

Documents. This document establishes the minimum required procedures used by FDEs 

in the preservation of, examination of, and reporting on liquid soaked documents. This 

generally includes the examination of documents exposed to liquids (water, blood, oils 

etc.) for content (writing, printing), material (paper, cardboard, plastic etc.), and source

determination. This standard does not include the examination of documents for the 

identification of the liquid contaminate(s). Comment deadline, December 14, 2020.

*Comments on a re-circulation will only be accepted on revised sections of a document, comments made to 

text not revised from the original comment period will not be accepted.

For the ASB documents listed above, download the comment template and return it to

asb@aafs.org by the comment deadline. 
OSAC Standards Bulletin – November 2020

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OTHER NEWS 

FORENSICS@NIST2020

Join our NIST colleagues on November

5-6 for FORENSICS@NIST2020 and learn

how advanced methods in metrology,

computer science and statistics are

being used to strengthen forensic

science. Learn more here.

Upcoming Webinar: “Mock Juror Perceptions of Forensics”

The Center for Statistics and Applications in Forensic

Evidence (CSAFE) invites researchers, collaborators, and

members of the broader forensics and statistics

communities to participate in the webinar, “Mock Juror

Perceptions of Forensics”, on Tuesday, December 8 from

11:00 – 12:00 pm CST. Read the full program description

and register here.

Get Involved with OSAC

OSAC offers a variety of ways for members, affiliates and other experts in the forensic science 

community to participate in the standards advancement process. Click here to learn how you 

can help make an impact on the forensic science community through standards.