Good calibrations: a significant measure of quality

2007-10-18

In conversation with Kelly Huckabone (MLT, ASQ CQIA) of the Fisher Scientific Instrument Service Group

When most Canadians reach for a glass of tap water, or get the results of their latest blood test, they don’t usually give much thought to the laboratory equipment that was used to test those substances. When all goes well, we don’t need to spend much time thinking about the instrumentation, or whether it was calibrated according to appropriate standards so as to provide consistent results. Individuals like Kelly Huckabone, and the Quality Team of Fisher Scientific’s Instrument Service Group (Fisher Service), make it possible for us to take these small but significant measurements for granted.

"Making a small difference in the world, whether through volunteering, donating to a charity, or working in a career where you are able to help people, can provide tremendous satisfaction," says Huckabone. As Quality Manager of the Fisher Service calibration program, Huckabone provides quality support to a national network of service technicians who perform very specialized calibrations of laboratory equipment.

Accredited under SCC/CLAS, a partnership between the Standards Council of Canada (SCC)’s Program for Accreditation of Laboratories Canada (or PALCAN) and the Calibration Laboratory Assessment Service (CLAS) of the National Research Council, Fisher Scientific offers calibration services to laboratories whose critical test results contribute to the health and safety of our society on a daily basis.

Fisher Service’s typical customer base includes pharmaceutical companies, health care laboratories, and various other testing facilities. Most of their customers perform a range of tests, including such things as analysis of water for safe drinking, and checking soil for contamination. Some of their health care customers use calibrated equipment in testing for disease markers. Fisher Scientific offers service in 10 fields of calibration, including balances, voltage (pH), timer, temperature, centrifuge (RPM), volume, spectrophotometers, density, weights (mass metrology), and pipettes.

"Customers seek the services of an accredited organization for a variety of reasons, including compliance requirements, results that are traceable to specific standards, and the desire to have high-quality calibrations," explains Huckabone. Under the SCC/CLAS program, qualified laboratories are granted accreditation to the international standard (ISO/IEC 17025), which outlines general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.

Within government, Huckabone has noted a change in the application of standards and regulations. "With more and more industries becoming regulated, and subject to the shifting conditions of trade within a global economy, we anticipate that the number of requests for ISO/IEC calibrations will increase," says Huckabone.

"Health Canada, the FDA and other levels of the provincial/federal government heavily regulate these customers and require calibration reports that show the equipment is operating under optimum conditions and thus yielding valid test results."

The equipment being calibrated is often used to conduct water and food testing, in drug manufacturing, or for medical screenings. By adhering to ISO/IEC 17025 and using equipment calibration reports that can be reviewed during external audits, Fisher Scientific is able to provide assurance that laboratories are issuing accurate and reliable results. "Given the critical nature of the required results," explains Huckabone, "users of these services, want assurance that the recorded results are correct and free of any errors."

In January 2007, Fisher’s metrology laboratory became the first in Canada to be accredited by SCC/CLAS to perform ISO/IEC 17025 calibrations of pipettes, instruments that are used to measure or transfer precise volumes of liquid. Fisher Service then went on to apply for group accreditation for three separate calibration groups and to successfully amalgamate these into a centralized calibration service. Theirs is the first group accreditation to be granted in Canada under the SCC/CLAS partnership. "This achievement has allowed us more flexibility to better serve our customers while offering us time and cost savings. We were able to consolidate our audits as part of the group accreditation."

In addition to the benefits that Fisher Scientific has experienced, Huckabone can’t say enough about the value to their customers of ISO/IEC 17025. "We look forward to maintaining our relationship with SCC and CLAS because it allows us to continue to serve science in a manner that will make a difference to society."

Next time you take a drink of tap water, or visit your local medical laboratory for a routine blood test, consider what would happen if those same tests were performed using equipment that wasn’t calibrated properly. The measurements may be small, but the difference they make is of significant consequence.

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This article first appeared in Volume 34 of CONSENSUS Magazine, 2007.  The information it contains was accurate at the time of publication but has not been updated or revised since, and may not reflect the latest updates on the topic.  If you have specific questions or concerns about the content, please contact the Standards Council of Canada.

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