Triad Requirements
There are a number of factors (e.g., appropriate QA/QC, flexible contracting, stakeholder concurrence, etc.) that contribute to successful Triad implementations.
Beyond the primary Triad components (systematic planning, dynamic work strategies, and real-time measurement systems), a successful Triad implementation for hazardous waste site decision-making has several additional requirements. These include:
- Appropriate Quality Assurance/Quality Control Strategies. A Triad approach emphasizes collaborative data sets, with data coming from potentially a variety of analytical sources. For some of these sources (e.g., certified laboratories), quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) programs may already be in place and pre-defined. For many real-time measurement sources, however, appropriate quality assurance and control strategies will need to be specified. The Triad offers the opportunity for quality control to also adapt or change to reflect the status of quality control indicators.
- Multi-Disciplinary Technical Teams. The Triad places heavy emphasis on systematic planning for sites, including the development of conceptual site models and the selection of appropriate real-time measurement systems along with their associated QA/QC requirements. For this to be successful requires a multi-disciplinary team approach to work plan development and decision-making. While the specific nature of the team will vary depending on site peculiarities, there will invariably be a need for analytical chemistry, contaminant fate and transport, and sampling program design expertise.
- Flexible Contracting Mechanisms. Dynamic work strategies, by definition, result in field activities whose ultimate scope and direction are not completely definable before work begins. Consequently, for a Triad approach to be implemented effectively requires flexible contracting mechanisms that facilitate modifications to work strategy as work progresses, while at the same time producing cost-effective and defensible contracts.
- Decision Support for In-Field Decision-Making. Triad-based data collection programs can produce significant amounts of data rapidly. Effective decision-making based on these data presumes a means for efficiently organizing, managing, and presenting these data in a timely fashion to decision-makers. These decision-makers may be on-site, or they may be physically distant from site activities. The need to provide in-field decision support is a unique characteristic of Triad-based work plans. It results in data management requirements that are not typically associated with more traditional sampling programs, where analytical data management only becomes an issue after field work is complete and seldom is time critical.
- Stakeholder Participation. While stakeholder participation is necessary for all hazardous waste site remediation and closure efforts, it plays a particularly important role in the Triad approach. This is because of the Triad's reliance on what may be non-standard analyses to support real-time decision-making, and its use of dynamic work strategies that often defer significant sampling program decisions to the field. Successful deployment of a Triad approach requires stakeholder participation not just in concurring with work plans, but also potentially with decisions that are made in the field in response to conditions/real-time results as they are encountered. This level of participation can have a positive impact on the ultimate outcome of a characterization or remediation program, since stakeholder issues with data can be addressed while field work is underway.
These requirements are not absolute in all cases for a site to experience at least some of the benefits of a Triad approach. For example, collaborative data sets combined with systematic planning may produce better quality decisions at reduced costs even if real-time measurements systems and dynamic work strategies are not included.
