Sample Transport and Storage - Field Sampling: Principles and Practices in Environmental Analysis - page 206

in the plan or in the remediation process.
8.4. TRANSPORT IN THE FIELD
Regardless of the sample—air, water, soil, or other—all are most susceptible to
contamination in the field. This happens because the sample is placed in the sample
container and is kept in the field with other samples while awaiting transport to the field
storage area. During this time samples are subject to light and changes in temperature. If
samples are taken while the sampler walks the field and samples are put in a backpack, it
may be several hours before the samples get to the field office.
Samples will be subject to jolts and bumping as the person or vehicle carrying them
traverses uneven ground between sampling sites. While in the field, samples will be
exposed to sunlight and variations in temperature. All of these factors will be controlled
once the samples are in the storage facility and boxed for shipment to the analytical
laboratory.
One good way to avoid some of these problems is to put the samples directly into the
lot shipment box that will be used to transport the samples to the analytical laboratory.
The box must be covered to keep out light and should be kept at a constant temperature
as much as possible. If cooling is called for, boxes will be filled with ice and kept filled at
all times. In this way samples are immediately cooled and stabilized in the field. During
this time containers must be kept isolated from each other, usually by packing material,
so they do not break.
8.5. TRANSPORT BOXES
Transport boxes are used to contain batches of samples and to transport these batches to
the commercial analytical laboratory. In some cases such boxes are best obtained from
the laboratory doing the analysis. A box supplied by the laboratory will come with
instructions for both packing and the conditions under which the samples must be kept. A
typical transport box is shown in Figure 8.2. The box shown contains a number of
different containers for different types of samples. Normally a box would only contain
the types of containers designated for the type of sample being collected.
Transport boxes are constructed of many different types of materials. Simple cardboard
boxes can be used but are not strong, and sample weights must be carefully monitored to
make sure that the box does not contain too many samples. Simple wooden, plastic, and
metal boxes are also used. These may be constructed with internal sample racks that keep
samples protected from each other. Insulated boxes are also used for some samples.
The box shown in Figure 8.2 is a relatively simple insulated plastic cooler. Typically
these are maintained at some lower temperature (4°C is