9 replies to this topic

[hygienic]

Dear All;



Last week I called a company to make calibration for our cold rooms and freezers , they came but they did the calibration in very easy way they did not use any valuable instrument , except the infrared thermometer which we are using daily to monitor our cold rooms temperatures , so he finished and kept calibration stikers in all cold rooms and mentioned the next calibration which is next year , but my question here , as it is very east step can I do the calibration internally and record all the readings ,so no need in this case to call any calibration company , so I can do it by ny self and go for a nice calibration stikers and keep them in the coold rooms or chillers , I can design certificates as well and all the calibration records to documented in the Quality departement in case if any auditor ask ,

another question is it mandatory to go for external calibration company? is there any requirement in ISO 22000 for this case ?



Regards

Hygienic

[hygienic]

Dear ALl.

Any share ?

[mind over matter]

Dear All;



Last week I called a company to make calibration for our cold rooms and freezers , they came but they did the calibration in very easy way they did not use any valuable instrument , except the infrared thermometer which we are using daily to monitor our cold rooms temperatures , so he finished and kept calibration stikers in all cold rooms and mentioned the next calibration which is next year , but my question here , as it is very east step can I do the calibration internally and record all the readings ,so no need in this case to call any calibration company , so I can do it by ny self and go for a nice calibration stikers and keep them in the coold rooms or chillers , I can design certificates as well and all the calibration records to documented in the Quality departement in case if any auditor ask ,

another question is it mandatory to go for external calibration company? is there any requirement in ISO 22000 for this case ?



Regards

Hygienic

It is ok to do calibrations in-house. You can use calibrated "Master" gauges to calibrate gauges on the plant. (For example, the Master was calibrated, say, annually by external calibration company. Then it can be used to calibrate all in-process monitoring/measuring instruments/equipments.)

Please note that calibration frequency should initially be determined by risk assessment, to calibrate, for example, 3-monthly, 6-monthly, 12-monthly, by-request or not at all. If after a couple of years of 3 or 6 monthly testing you are able to demonstrate through trending of calibration correction data that it is satisfactory to lengthen the period between calibrations, then it is acceptable to do so. However, it is not advisable/industry practice to allow longer than 12 months between calibration checks for "critical" process instruments.

By the way, I do have some questions -
Do you have a procedure to do the calibration?
Are the workers/operators trained on the procedure and have the knowledge to do the calibration?
Do you have an environmental controls sufficient enough to ensure there is no impact from the environment of the calibartions and/or master?
Have you established some plan of remedial action if the master is found out of tolerance?
Are all the results being adequately documented and reviewed?

Edited by mind over matter, 22 November 2011 - 11:41 PM.

[faisal rafique]

Yes, you can do internal calibration. you need an externally calibrated master thermometer with certificate. Actually external calibrated equipment is calibrated by that company against NIST certified traceable thermometer. You need an training (certificate) from external source to do internal calibration and have to draft procedures and log sheets. You need always reference to satisfy Auditor that calibration are up to mark and are also certified by an external source.

Faisal

[djc@eti]

Wow, sounds like easy money for your external calibration company! Firstly you need to be sure of the accuracy of any instrument that you are using to test temperatures. This should be verified by a laboratory whose temperature Standards are traceable to National Standards. An infrared instrument will not test air temperatures, only the outer surface of any solid. If you want verification of the temperatures at which product would be maintained I would recommend a datalogger placed at appropriate positions in the cold rooms. Most dataloggers come with software that will give a record of temperatures over a long period which can then be saved for audits.

Obviously, regular checks of product with an infrared instrument will provide you with confidence; and a record of these tests will add to any audit.

So an annual calibration of thermometers/dataloggers at a laboratory accredited to ISO 17025 with traceability to National Standards, and plenty of records, should see you without the need to employ an outside calibration check of your facility - and may well enable you to check on the efficiencies (possible energy savings) of your cold rooms - they are often kept too cold!

[mesophile]

Good Morning,

What we do is:

Purchase calibrated thermometers in the first place and have the calibration certificates to at least 3 reference temperatures (-18°C, 0°C, +100°C)

Purchase a calibrated thermometer we call "REFERENCE" this will not be used at all for any temperature monitoring other than to check calibration of all other probes in house.

We send the REFERENCE thermometer and probe (very important to calibrate both) to a UKAS accredited company annually.

All other probes we use in house, we test daily, and record the results against the result of the REFERENCE thermometer. We allow +/-1°C tollerance only between REFERENCE and thermometer.

These get recorded on a "Daily Temperature Calibration Record" and filed with the plethora of other QA paperwork.


Thanks

Simon

[Charles.C]

Dear hygienic,

Perhaps you should take particular note of the comment suggesting application limitations of infra-red thermometers in post#5. I am curious as to the specific calibration procedure which you paid for.

Rgds / Charles.C

[hygienic]

Dear hygienic,

Perhaps you should take particular note of the comment suggesting application limitations of infra-red thermometers in post#5. I am curious as to the specific calibration procedure which you paid for.

Rgds / Charles.C

Dear Charles;

Exactly what he mentioned very easy to do , I do not know why I did not make by my self , any way no more contacts with those people who did calibration in our facility (thieves).

Regards

[hygienic]

It is ok to do calibrations in-house. You can use calibrated "Master" gauges to calibrate gauges on the plant. (For example, the Master was calibrated, say, annually by external calibration company. Then it can be used to calibrate all in-process monitoring/measuring instruments/equipments.)

Please note that calibration frequency should initially be determined by risk assessment, to calibrate, for example, 3-monthly, 6-monthly, 12-monthly, by-request or not at all. If after a couple of years of 3 or 6 monthly testing you are able to demonstrate through trending of calibration correction data that it is satisfactory to lengthen the period between calibrations, then it is acceptable to do so. However, it is not advisable/industry practice to allow longer than 12 months between calibration checks for "critical" process instruments.

By the way, I do have some questions -
Do you have a procedure to do the calibration?
Are the workers/operators trained on the procedure and have the knowledge to do the calibration?
Do you have an environmental controls sufficient enough to ensure there is no impact from the environment of the calibartions and/or master?
Have you established some plan of remedial action if the master is found out of tolerance?
Are all the results being adequately documented and reviewed?

Hi;

Realy I am currently start to make a calibration procedure for scales , cold rooms and freezers , and will be implemented soon .

Regards

[Charles.C]

Dear hygienic,

It’s not on calibration but this document is quite readable on requirements (eg thermometers) for equipment/control of chilled and cold room-freezer temperatures. Eg see sections CR20 and FR22 respectively. One comment is that the usual recommendation is to put the probe in hottest location but people often directly attach to the wall for obvious reasons. Even so, auditors rarely object IMEX.

 performance specs., test procedures - cold rooms, freezer rooms, WHO.pdf   164.83KB   177 downloads

BRC implicitly (explicitly?) requires a data logger IMEX if you hv multiple freezers/ cold rooms. But still require calibration of course. Maybe easier to pay the money for a certified (data-logger) calibration service if not too frequent, eg annually (if the auditor accepts).

Do-it-yourself calibration is certainly possible but IMEX you may hv some local difficulties to get a master thermometer which is (certified) correct at multiple temperatures in range 0degC to -30degC. You may also need some good (Arctic clothing) climbing abilities. Probably easier to have a professional install an extension, plug-in point for routine access.

Another semi-related thread is here –

http://www.ifsqn.com...dpost__p__30719

Rgds / Charles.C