Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:2:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 2/5)
Character Range: 707179–710319

sooner decisions can be made about the need for site remediation or protection of the public and environment from further contamination.

To meet these competing demands for speed and reliability, the extraction/digestion and analytical methods should:
    1. be simple—procedures should be easy to follow and to perform, using equipment and reagents generally available in most environmental laboratories.
    2. be rapid ideally, extraction/digestion and analysis should be sufficiently rapid and non-labour-intensive to enable a large number of samples to be processed within acceptable turnaround times. This should not be at the expense of meaningful analytical results.
    3. be accurate and precise—the test methods listed in these guidelines are regarded as 'reference' procedures, mostly derived from authoritative Australian references or internationally recognised authorities such as US EPA or APHA.
    4. They are considered to be sufficiently rigorous and reliable for the assessment of contaminated sites, by virtue of their measured accuracy and precision in validation studies and/or their usage and acceptance as rigorous techniques by the scientific community.
    5. be capable of batch or automated analysis—samples should be able to be processed in large batches without being cumbersome; automated analyses are often preferred.
    6. be capable of simultaneous analysis—procedures should allow a variety of chemical components to be analysed using aliquots of a single extract per sample. This minimises sample processing time and cost and maximises sample throughput.
    7. have an appropriate limit of reporting (LOR)—the selected method should have a limit of reporting, where practicable, no greater than 20% of the relevant soil criteria and validated for a variety of soil matrices, including sand, clay and loams.
    8. be safe—safety should never be compromised, especially when undertaking large batch processing and handling soils from contaminated sites.

The analytical methods referenced in this guideline have been selected on the basis of having reliability and where possible, ease of use and efficient data turnaround. The methods primarily measure the potentially mobile or bioavailable fraction of contaminants in soil (not necessarily the total residual contaminant concentrations) because many such residual components (for example, those bound to a silicate matrix) pose little immediate threat to human health or the environment.

2.4              Referenced methods and use of alternative methods
Analysis for regulatory or statutory purposes, or conducted under the principles of this Schedule, should be undertaken by either:
    * the methods specified in this guideline (as updated over time)
or
    * a method verified to be equivalent in outcome to the relevant referenced method.

Other extraction and determinative methods may be at least as efficient, accurate and precise (as well as possibly faster and less expensive) than those recommended here, including specially designed commercial systems, for example, digestion units, distillation units and auto analysers. However, it