La. Admin. Code tit. 55 § I-555

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section I-555 - Certified Techniques of Analyst

A. The certified analyst shall inspect instrumentation and equipment immediately before analysis is begun to insure that the instrument is operating properly and that test results will be accurate and within the tolerances indicated below.

B. The methods approved for alcohol analysis of blood are:

1. gas chromatography- headspace sampling with internal standard;

2. gas chromatography - direct injection with internal standard;

3. gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-headspace sampling with internal standard;

4. gas chromatography/mass spectrometry-direct injection with internal standard.

C. Procedures shall include the following controls in conjunction with each batch of samples analyzed:

1. a system blank analysis;

2. analysis of a whole blood control of known alcohol content within the range 0.04 grams percent to 0.40 grams percent the result of which analysis must coincide with the known blood alcohol value of the control specimen +0.01 grams percent if validity is to be assigned to the results for the batch analyzed.

D. Replicate analysis shall be performed in order to eliminate the possibility of undetected errors.

E. Results shall be expressed in terms of percent w/v (grams percent) that is, grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood rounded downward to the second decimal place, for example, 0.237 grams percent shall be reported as 0.23 grams percent.

F. Analytical procedures for determining the concentration of alcohol in the blood shall meet the following requirements.

1. The accuracy of the procedures shall be such as consistently to attain results within +0.01 grams percent of the known value over the range 0.04 grams to 0.40 grams percent in analysis of commercially whole blood controls.

2. The precision of the analysis shall be such as consistently to attain a reproductability not greater than +0.005 grams percent from the mean value in replicate analysis.

3. The blank values yielded by the procedure in analysis of alcohol-free reagents consistently shall be not greater than 0.00 grams percent.

4. Procedures for the analysis of whole blood from living and post mortem subjects shall differentiate ethyl alcohol from all other substances.

G. Blood drawn for the purposes of determining the alcoholic content therein shall have been taken with the contents of a sealed blood collection kit approved by the Louisiana State Police crime laboratory. Such kits will be made available to all law enforcement agencies by the Louisiana State Police.

1. All kits approved by the Louisiana State Police crime laboratory contain the necessary preservative to insure stability of the sample as provided by the manufacturer and contain no ethyl alcohol. Each approved kit must be manufactured specifically for blood alcohol determinations in living or post-mortem subjects.

2. Following analysis, the evidence will be stored for a period of one year at room temperature or under refrigeration by either the testing facility or the submitting agency and then may be destroyed. Evidence collected subsequent to law enforcement investigations and/or search warrant executions are subject to the aforementioned storage period and destruction policy. Additional storage duration and/or destruction criteria may be implemented by the testing facility or submitting agency.

3. The blood sample taken for analysis may be maintained at room temperature and delivered to the designated collection site of each enforcement agency within 24 hours of the end of the collecting officer's shift. It shall be transported then to the laboratory utilized for analysis at the earliest opportunity after collection, not to exceed 10 days.

H. Each laboratory performing blood alcohol analysis must either be permitted by terms set forth in the Louisiana statutory criminal law and procedure, R.S. 32:663, or submit to the Louisiana State Police crime laboratory for approval of written procedures with regard to the following minimum standards.

1. Analysis must be performed on a gas chromatograph with or without a mass spectrometer.

2. Any procedures for blood alcohol determinations as outlined in these rules and regulations shall be considered minimum standards.

3. Maintenance repair and inspection must be in accordance with guidelines listed in §557

La. Admin. Code tit. 55, § I-555

Promulgated by the Department of Public Safety, Office of State Police, LR 6:663 (November 1980), amended by the Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Office of State Police, LR 11:259 (March 1985), LR 14:360 (June 1988), LR 17:675 (July 1991), repromulgated LR 17:798 (August 1991), amended LR 26:2624 (November 2000), LR 37:1416 (May 2011), Amended LR 4495 (1/1/2018).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 32:663.