CHAPTER 20: Raising Data Integrity Concerns Check Access

Analytical staff are often the first people to realise that there are data integrity problems in a laboratory. In Chapter 8 when discussing an open culture, there is the iceberg of ignorance where individuals close to the work know about the problems but only 4% of those are known by senior management. There needs to be in place a policy for staff to raise their concerns in confidence and without fear of retaliation either by the organisation or other employees. These concerns must be investigated and, if found to be true, further action can be initiated. Raising data integrity concerns is also known as whistleblowing.