A two-legged stool does not stand, and a stool with one leg that is twice as long as the others will be unstable. Best, of course, is a stool where all three legs are equal. If we use the idea of a stool as a model of what is needed to support DNA analysis then there are three legs that should be equal—staff, equipment, and space.

DNA analysis has rapidly become a key element in laboratory processes. DNA is currently one of the only areas of forensic science that has not come under scrutiny in the latest report by the National Academy of Science. However, vulnerability always exists, even to a very highly regarded process such as DNA analysis. That weakness in DNA can be mitigated by finding the right relationship and ultimately the balance between number of employees, equipment supporting the employees, and the space in which the equipment and employees reside.

For the purpose of this article, let’s say that we would like to add 30 new staff to a forensic laboratory in order to decrease case turnaround time and consequently to decrease case backlog. Adding 30 new positions to the laboratory will allow cases to be worked as they are submitted and will provide for enough staff to facilitate a decrease in the backlog. The additional staff will also decrease the case turnaround time to the laboratory’s goal of 45 days.

Issue #1 – Staff
Let’s presume that there is funding in place to hire 30 additional employees. With the hiring of this additional staff, is there adequate space in the facility to accommodate these extra positions? The question of available space is not only within the laboratory, but within office areas as well. Certainly there are ways in which additional employees can be accommodated such as instituting shift work for laboratory functions and by utilizing desk sharing (or hoteling) for the office areas. However, shift work for a 24 hour period may not be feasible for forensic laboratory staff. Additionally there is a limit to the number of employees who can efficiently utilize space (laboratory and office) before it negatively impacts either the quantity or quality of case processing. Furthermore, how does this affect the other two variables—equipment and space? If 30 additional employees are hired, will there be enough equipment for the new employees to utilize in the processing of cases and will the laboratory actually realize an increase in the number of cases worked?