How to select the right temperature calibration solution

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When choosing the right temperature calibration solution for your monitoring equipment, data loggers or manual equipment, it is important to remember that temperature calibration is an inherent part of ensuring that the equipment measures correctly. Furthermore, it is important that the calibration is traceable to an international standard.

However, the question is how to choose the right temperature calibration method level as well as determining how this will affect the quality documentation?

For a more detailed walk-through of the nature of calibration, find our full guide to temperature calibration in GxP here

Why calibrate?

Almost all requirements from government or customers (GDP, GMP, GLP, or other) will focus on that you calibrate your equipment on a yearly basis or based on a risk assessment.

Furthermore, the temperature calibration ensures that the equipment measures correctly. Measurements taken with non-calibrated devices can inherently not be trusted, and thus temperature calibration is a crucial part of all quality work.

What should you be aware of when choosing a temperature calibration solution?

There are a number of things to be aware of when selecting a calibration solution. The most important ones are listed below:

• Traceability: In order to rely on the measurements made by the equipment, equipment must always be traceable.
• Measurement uncertainty: The uncertainty about the calibration must be chosen to suit the needs of authorities or internal processes. As a rule of thumb, 0.5 °C will be sufficient when monitoring refrigeration equipment, such as refrigerators, freezers and ULT-freezers.
• Accredited or not accredited: Whether or not the calibration of your equipment is accredited depends on the requirements of authorities or customers regarding the quality and traceability of the measurements made by your monitoring equipment. An accredited calibration is always guaranteed to be of high quality, and all accredited companies have strict procedural requirements and are continuously inspected to ensure that the quality is uniform. Therefore, you can always trust accredited calibrations to follow the same international calibration standard.

Which temperature calibration methods can you choose from when selecting monitoring devices?

When buying monitoring equipment and systems, there are typically 3 varieties to choose from:

• Uncalibrated devices
• Traceable calibrated devices
• Accredited calibrated devices

Below is a short description of the difference between the different types:

Uncalibrated

Equipment which has not been through a temperature calibration process before being shipped to the customer. There might exist some validation of the product, but this does not guarantee that it measures correctly. No documentation exists on this neither.

Traceable calibration

Traceable calibration is performed using a supplier’s internal procedure, which is validated internally at the supplier’s organization.

The traceability comes from the reference that the suppliers use, which should be traceable to international standards.

Preferable the supplier uses a reference that is traceable to an accredited laboratory. The supplier should be able to provide information on of traceability as well as documentation.

Accredited calibration

An accredited calibration follows a method and procedure for temperature calibration that has been approved by the national accreditation institute in the country of the supplier. Furthermore, it follows the standards of the ISO 17025 standard, which have also been approved by the accreditation body. In other words, the national accreditation body has audited the supplier, ensured that the laboratory overall has high standards and that it follows all standards of calibration to a high level.

What does the temperature calibration level mean for the quality work?

When complying with any quality standard, whether required by law or by your customers, it is paramount that the equipment is qualified and validated for the purpose. This often means that the equipment needs to be calibrated.

If the equipment is purchased without calibration, it needs to be ensured that some kind of calibration is performed either internally or externally and that it is possible to obtain documentation of this.

If you opt for traceable temperature calibration, you need to assess whether or not it is sufficient for the purpose. This can include a general risk assessment, affirmation with auditors, risk assessment of the supplier, and so on.

The quality manager at your organization needs to make sure that the calibration that has been performed as well as the documentation, complies with the standards expected from the auditors.

Furthermore, it might be required that the traceability chain is documented and that a validation of the supplier has been performed, all depending on the requirements of the auditor or the standard you follow.

The easiest way to ensure compliance is to use accredited calibration. In this case, the tasks associated with the risk assessment of the supplier and traceability of the calibration have already been performed by the accreditation body.

When a laboratory is accredited, extensive and continuous auditing of the laboratory is performed to ensure that all methods and procedures live up to a high standard and that all temperature calibrations are performed in accordance with strict requirements for traceability and quality.

Also see: Step-by-step guide: What does the temperature calibration procedure include?

Need help?

Eupry optimizes how organizations monitor, and document temperatures. Using the Internet of Things (IoT), Eupry changes the way organizations approach compliance, quality, and efficiency. We have a wide variety of customers in several sectors. If you have any questions regarding how to secure temperature-sensitive goods, you are welcome to contact us or read more in our solution catalog.