Large Tank Scales Calibration

Hi Team,

I understand we have to do daily calibration for our scales per BRC requirement.

However, we have 1,300 gallons large tank that is being installed on the scales platform (on the ground).

We will have the service come in to inspect and calibrate quarterly. The tank is very big and it has very low risk of scale being off.

Would this calibration service records be sufficient for the requirement?

Please advise.

The BRC standard doesn't specifically mandate daily calibration, or daily verification checks. As with most things BRC, it wants this to be based on risk-assessment ;)

Are the scales underneath the tanks used in anything relating to a CCP, to legality (e.g. fill weights), or anything that is critical to quality? If not, then it should be entirely acceptable that this is not something that needs daily verification.

With a new set of scales you don't have the historical data to show that e.g. the "historical reliability" criteria in the interpretation guide under clause 6.4.2 is met, but nature of use and manufacturer's recommendations are also given as valid considerations for your calibration checks.

I'd therefore suggest talking to the manufacturer to get their recommendations based on their experience with that model of scales, ideally in writing, as you can then use this as the basis for the frequency you're going with.

FWIW I've got similar tank-on-scales setups and no BRC auditor yet has had an issue with us not doing a daily verification check on it ;)

Have you done a risk assessment for your other calibration and verification activities for scales, flow meters, temperature probes etc?
Ideally you'd want to follow the same format as that.

It could fairly easily be phrased in a "likelihood x severity = risk" format I think, as your position is broadly that the likelihood is low, and that the severity in the event of drift from calibration is also low. The former is (hopefully/ideally) based on the manufacturer's recommendations around calibration frequencies, and the latter is due to the non-critical (in a food safety / quality / legality sense) application for which the scales are used. You'd then document these considerations within the risk assessment.

Yes! we perform those risk assessments.

Thank you so much for your help, pHruit .

I'm on it!