Calibration intervals

In the industrial world, measurements are used to make a wide range of decisions: acceptance of supplier batches, adjustment of a production process, release of customer batches, experimental design, environmental monitoring, prototype and test-tube testing, etc. Since measurements are not exact, each decision entails a risk which must be known, accepted (via an explicit or implicit customer/supplier agreement) and guaranteed over time.

It is for these reasons that quality standards, led by ISO 9001, all require, in one way or another, that each instrument involved in a decision be calibrated and/or verified at specified intervals, or before use, against measurement standards that can be linked to international or national measurement standards (source: § 7.1.5.2 of ISO 9001).

The purpose of this sheet is to guide users in their choice of periodicity.