Guidance

11 Inspection, Measuring and Test Equipment

This section suggests typical equipment to be included within a calibration system.

In establishing the equipment which requires calibration, the following must be considered: 

• The Standard requires that any equipment used to demonstrate the conformance of product to actual requirements be calibrated, with records traceable back to a nationally recognised standard.
• BCS/Trading Standards certification is accepted by BSI QA.  Where a company uses any other source for calibration, the equipment used in the process of calibration must be identified to demonstrate traceability to a national standard.
• Where equipment is used for indication purposes only, it may be excluded from the calibration system.  Evidence to support the decision must exist and the equipment must be clearly identified.  However, it may be appropriate to include such equipment within a maintenance program (see 4.9).

Taking into account the above, items requiring calibration may include:

• Micrometers
• Verniers
• Dial test Indicators
• Rules and tapes (Bodyshop)
• Torque wrenches
• Pressure gauges (tyre, oil, etc)
• Gas analysers
• Scales (paint, etc)
• Multimeters
• Wheel balancing equipment
• Tyre tread depth gauges
• Paint thickness measurement equipment ('Elcometer' setting shims)
• Brake testing equipment (Tapley meter)
• Cam belt tension/spring balances
• Headlight aligners
• Engine analysers
• Steering geometry/4 wheel alignment checking equipment
• Timing lights

Equipment should be checked across its full scope of functions used as well as the range of normal use.

Where calibration is carried out 'in-house', calibration procedures are required defining the check method and records maintained to demonstrate tractability to national standards.