After reading the 'UniTemp now open for calibrations' news item in our last issue (February 2006), Steve Sidney, manager of the National Laboratory Association raised some concerns in a letter to the editor. UniTemp was invited to respond, which it did. Here are Steve Sidney's concerns, followed by the response from Dieter Bütow of UniTemp.
Steve said that he found the article contentious and misleading and believed that it is vital that clarity be sought with regard to the information it contained. He went on to describe some requirements of what is necessary for proper recognition as a calibration service provider:
"For many years users of equipment requiring regular calibration have been encouraged to make use of calibration service providers that are accredited to ISO17025. This International Standard is recognised worldwide as a 'competency'-based standard and as such ensures that a calibration laboratory which is accredited to ISO17025 is assessed for all the elements that go towards establishing that the service provided meets certain minimum criteria. This assessment includes the following; traceability, equipment, environment, personnel, training, methods, Uncertainty of Measurement, reporting, certificates etc. and all in terms of competency, ie, is the Cal Lab competent to make the claims that it does? It also needs to be remembered that this is an independent third party assessment by technically competent assessors in their field of expertise.
The only credible assessment to ISO17025 is that which is provided by an Accreditation Body (AB). Furthermore, in order for the AB to have credibility it should be an ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Co-Operation) Mutual Recognition partner. This process ensures that the AB is peer reviewed and that the certificates issued by the accredited laboratories will be accepted in all those countries whose AB's have signed and been accepted by the ILAC arrangement.
It also needs to be pointed out that Certification Bodies (CBs); these are companies/organisations that issue ISO 9000, ISO 14000, HACCP certificates and who have been accredited for this activity will strongly recommend or insist on the use of Accredited ISO 17025 Calibration Laboratories for equipment as described in the article."
With this as a background, Steve requested the following clarification:
1. "The article refers to an authorised partner 'testo'. Is this an AB and if so who are they, since I am unaware of them?"
2. "The article also mentions the issuing of ISO Calibration Certificates. To which ISO standard does this refer? If they are ISO 17025 they would have no standing with any accredited certification body (CB) and if they are ISO 9000 or HACCP certificates, this would in no way provide any assurance of the competency and authenticity of the calibration process."
"The vagueness, and in my opinion deliberately misleading information, does neither the company, the industry, nor all those who have worked so very hard to have South Africa achieve the highest form of recognition, any favours. It merely helps to perpetuate a long standing problem.
Whilst I appreciate that a publication such as SAI&C cannot be expected to delve into the depth of each and every article submitted, I do think that some checking should be done. In fact if I recall, one of your regular contributors, Dr Maurice McDowell, wrote about this very issue not so long ago.
Finally, I would like to suggest that should the company in question be in a position to become ISO 17025 accredited, it should look no further than SANAS in this regard."
Steve Sidney, manager, National Laboratory Association
Dieter Bütow of UniTemp responds:
"It has not been our intention to mislead anybody in the article by Patrick Dolz on our newly established calibration laboratory (SAI&C Vol 22 no2 February 2006 issue, p.5). We concede that there are a few areas where the article is not specific enough which can lead to misinterpretation. We trust that this letter will clarify these.
We fully support the efforts of SANAS and the NLA to ensure that industry receives calibration services of a high standard. The establishing of a calibration lab at UniTemp has been prompted by customers who desire well-documented calibrations from us for the instruments we supply into the market.
UniTemp is working towards becoming a full SANAS accredited laboratory. Before we can apply for SANAS accreditation, we need our newly established laboratory to build a proven track record. As a first step Testo has assisted UniTemp to establish a working calibration facility to ISO 9001 standard.
Testo Industrial Services, a subsidiary of Testo AG, is the biggest calibration laboratory in Germany and is DKD accredited for 21 parameters to ISO/IEC 17025. Like SANAS, DKD is a full ILAC member. Testo Industrial Services is tasked by Testo AG to assist subsidiaries and distributors in the establishment of new calibration facilities.
Progress made so far:
1. Our laboratory is equipped with reference instruments with DKD calibration certificate (ISO17025).
2. Our staff has received training by Testo Industrial Services.
3. Our calibration procedures have been established and documented under the auspices of Testo Industrial Services in order to ensure uniformity in the group.
4. We are performing calibrations according to ISO 9001. ISO9001 requires reliable measurements per calibration point. Whereas some laboratories seem to take only a single measurement per point due to time constraints, UniTemp takes the average of three measurements per calibration point.
5. Our certificates also include uncertainty calculations, which are beyond the requirements of ISO 9001 and include a calculation of the expanded uncertainty for the entire calibration.
We are committed to making a useful contribution towards higher standards of measurement and calibration in South Africa."
Dieter Bütow, member: Sales and Marketing, UniTemp
I am certain that if there were any readers concerned that South African calibration concerns were not being taken care of, these folk can now rest easy! Gentlemen, thank you for your letters. [editor]
John Gibbs - editor
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