At a glance..
Our Calibration Sector provides accreditation services for three types of conformity assessment activities:
- Proficiency Testing Providers
- Reference Material Producers
- Calibration
There are two 2 Accreditation Advisory Committees (AACs)
- Proficiency Testing and Reference Materials (PRP)
- Calibration (CAL)
There are three Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) with APAC & ILAC.
Conformity assessment activities
1. Proficiency Testing (PT) Providers
Proficiency testing involves the use of laboratory comparisons for the determination of laboratory performance. Accreditation is to ISO/IEC 17043:2010 Conformity assessment – General requirements for proficiency testing.
NATA has 14 PT providers accredited that provide programs to support:
- Environmental testing (2)
- Foods and beverages (5)
- Health and community services (6)
- Legal services (2)
- Construction materials (1)
- Materials Testing (1)
- Ores and minerals (1)
2. Reference Material Producers
What is a Reference Material?
A Reference Material is sufficiently homogeneous and stable with reference to specified properties which has been established to be fit for its intended use in measurement.
A Certified Reference Material is a reference material accompanied by documentation issued by an authoritative body and providing one or more specified property values with associated uncertainties and traceabilities.
Reference materials are used in all stages of the measurement process, including for method validation, calibration and quality control. They are also used in inter-laboratory comparisons, for method validation and for assessing laboratory proficiency.
What accredited program areas does NATA support?
Accreditation is to ISO 17034:2016 General requirements for the competence of reference material producers.
NATA has 21 RM producers accredited that provide programs to support:
- Environmental testing (2)
- Foods and beverages (6)
- Health and community services (2)
- Legal services (5)
- Reference gages (7)
- Materials Testing (1)
- Ores and minerals (4)
3. Calibration
Calibration is an operation that, under specified conditions:
- Establishes a relation between the quantity values with measurement uncertainties provided by measurement standards and corresponding indications with associated measurement uncertainties
- Uses this information to establish a relation for obtaining a measurement result from an indication
A ‘calibration’ is a form of testing with the intended purposed to establish and provide metrological traceability of a measured value. A calibration is accompanied by documentation reporting the measure and with associated measurement uncertainty and metrological traceability.
Accreditation is to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 includes additional requirements (from testing) applicable to calibration for the reporting of results .
What calibration laboratories are covered by NATA?
NATA has 338 calibration laboratories (sites) accredited providing measurements in the areas of:
Dimensional Metrology, Force, Pressure, Mass, Volume, Density, Flow, Viscosity, Pressure, Torque, Speed and Velocity, Low Frequency Electrical Metrology, Radio Frequency Electrical Metrology, Time, Frequency, Temperature, Humidity, Optics, Ionising Radiation, Acoustics, Ultrasonics, Vibration and Chemical Metrology.
For additional information on calibration and/or calibration accreditation, contact NATA on 1 800 621 666 or corpcomm@nata.com.au
