Many of the technicians performing measurements, intermediate checks, and/or preventive maintenance do not check or review the calibration certificate concerning the result of calibrations or the measured output values of their instrument.

They are already confident that the calibrated instruments they use are accurate. This is what I usually hear,  ”My instrument is accurate because it is newly calibrated!”. 

Yes, they are correct at some point, but not always…if this is how you think about calibration then you are missing something. Not all calibrated instruments are being adjusted during calibration and therefore it is not as accurate as you believe.

Once a newly calibrated Instrument is received with a calibration certificate, of course, one must know how to review and interpret the content of the calibration certificate.

This is not just a job of quality personnel (calibration technician) but specifically, the one who directly uses the instrument, the technician, or the operator.

But if you are a technician or an engineer directly using the instruments, in addition to the above requirements, concentrate to review on below checkpoints:

• As found /as left data

• Traceability information

• Uncertainty results

• Correction/error

Usually, the above contents can be seen on the second page of the calibration certificate, we commonly call it calibration results (for the traceability details mostly it is on the first page).