NABL 142
NABL
NATIONAL ACCREDITATION BOARD FOR TESTING AND CALIBRATION LABORATORIES
POLICY on CALIBRATION & TRACEABILITY OF MEASUREMENTS
ISSUE NO : 03 ISSUE DATE: 18.10.2004
AMENDMENT NO : 02 AMENDMENT DATE: 05.07.2005
AMENDMENT SHEET Sl
Page No.
Clause Date of No. Amendment
1
2/ 3
7
18.10.2004
Amendment made
Reasons
Traceability policy – where
Corrective
traceability to National
action of
standard is not available or
APLAC
no accredited laboratory
evaluation
Signature QM
Signature Director
Sd/-
Sd/-
Sd/-
Sd/-
available 2
ISO/IEC 17025: 1999 &
Implementation
refer-
ISO/IEC 17025 replaced by
of ISO/IEC
ences
ISO/IEC 17025: 2005
17025: 2005
At all
-
05.07.2005
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories Doc. No: NABL 142 Issue No: 03
NABL Policy on Calibration and Traceability of Measurements Issue Date: 18.10.2004 Last Amend No: 02 Amend Date: 05.07.2005
Page No: i
NABL POLICY ON CALIBRATION AND TRACEABILITY OF MEASUREMENTS 1. NABL accredited testing and calibration laboratories are required to have an established programme of calibration and verification of its measuring and testing equipment.
2. The overall programme of calibration and verification and validation of an equipment shall be so designed and operated to ensure that measurements made by the laboratory are directly traceable to National and International standard of measurement, where applicable. Alternatively the measurement should be traceable to National Standards through an unbroken chain of NABL Accredited laboratories. The measurements may be alternatively traceable to the calibration laboratories accredited by APLAC/ ILAC MRA partners. NABL will recognize the traceability of calibration to international metrology institutes such as NIST, PTB etc. NABL accredited laboratories are required to ensure that the calibration certificates in such cases indicate the traceability to National or International standards of Measurement. The calibration certificate shall also provide a statement on the uncertainty of measurement and standards used with their valid calibration, uncertainty & traceability.
3. Where traceability to national or International standard is not applicable, the laboratory shall provide satisfactory evidence of correlation of results for example by participating in Proficiency Testing and/ or performance characteristics checks against manufacture’s standards (who may be able to provide the certificate of traceability)
4. The certificate issued by accredited calibration laboratories shall provide a reference to the validity of the latest calibration done.
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories Doc. No: NABL 142 Issue No: 03
NABL Policy on Calibration and Traceability of Measurements Issue Date: 18.10.2004 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -
Page No: 1/ 2
5. Calibrations of all the equipment of testing laboratories shall follow the traceability policy as described in points 2 & 3. Where International or National traceability is not practicable such as in areas of Biological and Chemical testing, the laboratory will be required to develop internally validated procedures of calibration preferably based on Inter-Laboratory proficiency Testing.
6. Where traceability to a national standard is not available and in the area(s), where no accredited laboratory is available, NABL will approach the external calibration provider(s), who can provide the suitable national or international traceability in that area. These external calibration provider(s) will be evaluated by NABL in that specific area, in accordance with ISO/ IEC 17025: 2005. The name(s) of such calibration provider will be included in NABL policy document. Also such calibration providers will be encouraged to seek NABL accreditation. When sufficient accredited calibration laboratories become available in a specified area, the requirement of exclusion of the area will be reviewed.
7. NABL accredited calibration laboratories shall be required to provide endorsed (with NABL symbol) calibration certificates, where relevant, to their users.
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories Doc. No: NABL 142 Issue No: 03
NABL Policy on Calibration and Traceability of Measurements Issue Date: 18.10.2004 Last Amend No: 01, 02 Amend Date: 05.07.2005
Page No: 2/ 2
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories 3rd Floor, NISCAIR 14, Satsang Vihar Marg New Mehrauli Road New Delhi – 110 067 Tel.: 91-11 26529718 – 20, 26526864 Fax: 91-11 26529716 Website: www.nabl-india.org