Training Courses on Quality Assurance and Quality Control Activities

The Quality Staff develops a variety of traditional training materials on quality assurance (QA) activities and the EPA quality system. Since the materials below are generic in nature, instructors should supplement them with program-specific activities or information to give context, emphasis and relevance to your training event.

Note that we are in the process of updating our training files and therefore replacing older and possibly obsolete files with more recent training materials. Please check back over the next few months as we continue to update these resources.


Assessing Quality Systems

This one-day course is designed to prepare those who will either assess or be assessed as part of an EPA or EPA-supporting quality system. The focus of the course is to improve quality systems and conserve resources through careful planning.

Knowledge of the principles and documentation of the quality system is a prerequisite for the course.

"Assessing Quality Systems" Course

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Detecting Improper Laboratory Practices

This one and a half day course presents tools and techniques for identifying improper practices in environmental laboratories during routine technical assessments. The course identifies "red flags" in each step of the assessment process which can indicate improper practices in the laboratory.

"Detecting Improper Laboratory Practices" Course

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Introduction to Data Quality Assessment

This one-day course demonstrates how to perform a data quality assessment (DQA) to evaluate data and provides detailed information on graphical and statistical tools. This course will familiarize participants with the process for performing a data quality assessments.

It does not involve detailed instructions on the statistics involved in the process. The course is intended for managers or analysts that either use (analyze) data themselves or review the use of data by others.

"Introduction to Data Quality Assessment" Course

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Introduction to Data Quality Objectives (Updated November 15, 2000)

This one-day course teaches participants the basic elements of the Data Quality Objectives (DQO) Process. In the first part of the course, the participants learn about

  • the Agency's Quality System and the elements of the DQO Process
  • how the process applies to a regulatory program at EPA
  • how to interpret the consequences of potential decision errors

In the latter half of the course, participants are divided into groups and work together as teams to apply the process to some real-life examples.

"Introduction to Data Quality Objectives" Course

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Introduction to EPA Quality System Requirements (Updated November 22, 2000)

This one-day course is intended to introduce the concepts of quality management. The course contains:

  • an overview of the Agency's Quality System
  • an overview of basic QA concepts
  • a description of the application of these concepts to environmental programs involving the collection or use of environmental data

Topics covered include:

  • terms and nomenclature
  • roles and responsibilities
  • principal QA activities

"Introduction to EPA Quality System Requirements" Course

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Introduction to Quality Assurance Project Plans (Updated February 14, 2004)

This one-day course is designed with a "how-to" approach for individuals who:

  • write
  • review
  • and/or approve

QA Project Plans

It provides an overview of QA Project Plan development which:

  • stresses the need for systematic planning
  • includes EPA's graded approach to project plan development
  • describes in detail, the twenty-four elements of the QA Project Plan 

Participants are expected to have some basic experience in quality assurance.

"Introduction to Quality Assurance Project Plans" Course

Powerpoint/Word Version - The self-extracting file, qapp-ppt (EXE)(1 pg, 1 MB) , will place 2 Powerpoint and 3 Word files into the directory "C:\qs-train\qappintro\powerpt".

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Introduction to Quality Management Plans and Briefing Materials

This half-day course is intended to introduce the EPA policies and specifications of Quality Management Plans. This course presents information to be used in writing a Quality Management Plan that satisfies EPA CIO 2105.0 and EPA Requirements for Quality Management Plans (QA/R-2).

Participants receive instruction in how to address each element of the specifications. Participants are taught how to describe their organization's approach to each element and to identify the documentation required to develop a Quality Management Plan.

A 1-hour briefing that contains presentation materials and a factsheet is also available. This briefing can be used to educate managers on EPA's policies for Quality Management Plans.

"Introduction to Quality Management Plans" Course and Briefing Package

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Overview of the EPA Quality System (Updated March 14, 2001)

This is an abbreviated version of the Introduction to the EPA Quality System Requirements course that focuses on the policies and specifications of the EPA Quality System. This course describes the EPA Quality System and the specific elements that managers and project personnel must address to comply with EPA policy.

"Overview of the EPA Quality System" Course

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