If you haven't worked with us before, or you're new to managing calibration in your lab, this page explains exactly what to expect from the moment you get in touch to the certificate reaching your inbox.
This is the most important thing to understand, and it's something that confuses people.
When we calibrate your equipment, we're measuring how it's actually performing against traceable reference standards and giving you a documented record of those results. We don't adjust, modify or repair equipment as part of the calibration process, that’s a separate activity.
So if your balance is reading slightly high, or your fridge is running warmer than expected, calibration will give you a clear, accurate record of that. What you do with that information. whether to adjust or repair the equipment, is separate decision, and one we're happy to advise on.
Unless you've provided decision rules, we won't issue a pass or fail on your calibration certificate. This is the correct approach under ISO/IEC 17025 standards.
Whether your equipment has passed or failed depends on your specific tolerances and requirements and those vary between labs, processes and regulatory frameworks. It's not our call to make.
What we will give you is an accurate, traceable record of how your equipment is performing. You, or your QA team, then apply your own acceptance criteria to determine conformance.
If you do want us to make a conformance statement, a pass or fail against defined tolerances, we can do that if you provide us with the decision rules upfront. If you're not sure what your decision rules are or should be, we're happy to talk it through before we visit.
The majority of our calibrations are carried out on site, which matters for equipment like balances that are sensitive to being moved and for anything that can't easily be transported.
On the day, we'll carry out the calibration using reference standards traceable to national measurement standards, work through the relevant checks for your equipment type, and document everything as we go. If we notice anything worth flagging, something that looks like it might need attention, we’ll tell you before we leave.
Once the calibration is complete, we'll issue your UKAS accredited certificate within 3 days as standard. Within 7 days if the job is particularly large. The certificate will include:
This is the document your auditor needs to see. As we're UKAS accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 our certificates carry independent verification, not just our word that the work was done correctly.
UKAS accreditation means we've been independently assessed and verified by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. An independent body has reviewed our processes, our equipment, our staff competency and our quality management system and confirmed that we meet the requirements of ISO/IEC 17025.
For you, that means when your auditor questions the validity of your calibration records, our certificates will stand up to checks.
We get asked this a lot. The honest answer is that it depends on your equipment, how heavily it's used, your regulatory requirements and your own risk assessment.
As a general guide, most laboratory equipment is calibrated annually but some environments or regulatory frameworks require more frequent intervals.
If you're unsure what's right for your lab, we can advise based on the equipment type and how it's being used.
If you have questions about the process, your specific equipment, or what your audit requires, just get in touch. We'd rather answer your questions upfront than have you unsure about what you're getting.