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What happens if my vial breaks in transit?
The short answer
A broken or leaking vial usually cannot be analysed meaningfully, because the quantity result depends on the vial's full contents being present. A laboratory should tell you what arrived and what it can still measure rather than producing a number from a compromised sample. Padding the vial properly prevents nearly all of these cases.
In detail
Partial analysis is sometimes possible. Identity and chromatographic purity may still be assessable on recovered material, while quantification is not, because mass has been lost.
The reporting principle is the same as everywhere else on a certificate: state what was measured, and state what could not be.
If a sample arrives damaged, we say so before running anything, so you can decide whether a partial result is worth having.
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