NECESSARY SCIENTIFIC SAFEGUARDS IN BREATH ALCOHOL ANALYSIS

Necessary scientific safeguards in breath alcohol analysis comprise those precautions, measures and operations which are required to produce, establish and maintain adequate technical reliability and to safeguard the probative value of a breath alcohol analysis. The major elements of any breath alcohol analysis include (1) the scientific principles underlying the test method, procedure, and practices, (2) operator competency, skill and performance, (3) apparatus and equipment, including reagents and all other components, (4) analysis procedure and performance, (5) samples, and (6) records. Each component element of the system must be valid, reliable and inherently acceptable in order for the entire breath alcohol analysis system to be capable of producing consistently proper results. Those necessary measures which collectively insure consistently obtaining such results, or otherwise prevent carrying out of the analysis, constitute the necessary scientific safeguards for the purposes of this paper. This discussion is carried out under the subheadings: combined system testing--covering equilibrator standardization; practical programs for scientific safeguard implementation--outlining a minimally acceptable program; identification of tested subjects and test conditions; and, special scientific safeguard techniques--including sampling and reagents.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/00221198
• Corporate Authors:

  American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

  100 Barr Harbor Drive, P.O. Box C700
  West Conshohocken, PA  United States  19428-2957
• Authors:
  • Dubowski, K M
• Publication Date: 1960-10

Media Info

• Pagination: p. 422-433
• Serial:
  • Journal of Forensic Sciences
  • Volume: 5
  • Issue Number: 4
  • Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
  • ISSN: 0022-1198
  • EISSN: 1556-4029
  • Serial URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1556-4029

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Accuracy; Alcohol breath tests; Blood alcohol levels; Samples; Scientific method; Standards; Test procedures
• Subject Areas: Highways; Research; Safety and Human Factors; I83: Accidents and the Human Factor;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00452388
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
• Report/Paper Numbers: HS-039 257
• Files: HSL, TRIS, USDOT
• Created Date: Feb 28 1986 12:00AM