Chain of custody is the documented, unbroken record that follows a sample from the moment it is collected through transport to the lab and analysis, establishing who possessed it at each step and that it was not tampered with or mislabeled.
What is chain of custody?
The chain-of-custody form travels with the samples: it logs sample IDs, collection date and time, the locations sampled, the collector, the analysis requested, and a handoff record to the lab. Accredited environmental labs require it before they will run the work, because the form is what lets a result be tied back to a specific spot in a specific building at a specific time (AIHA, Green Book). Break the chain, a mislabeled cassette, a missing transfer signature, an unrecorded location, and the result loses the traceability that makes it usable in a dispute.
Why it matters to a mold inspection
A perfect lab result attached to the wrong room, or to no documented room, is worthless and indefensible. Chain of custody is the difference between a number you can stand behind in an insurance claim or a deposition and a number an opposing expert can wave away. The EPA's emphasis on documented, professional assessment runs straight through this: results have to be attributable to be interpretable (EPA, Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings). See chain of custody for mold samples and what makes a mold report survive court.
MoldMind generates the sample inventory and ties each sample ID to its location, method, and lab, so the chain of custody is structured data rather than a loose paper form that can go missing.
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