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QHSE Glossary

Calibration

The process of comparing measurement equipment against a known standard to ensure accuracy and traceability.

Calibration

Calibration (Ensuring Measurement Accuracy) is a critical concept in quality, health, safety, and environmental management.

What Is Calibration?

Calibration is the process of comparing a measurement instrument against a traceable reference standard to determine and correct any deviation. Calibration ensures that measurement equipment provides accurate and reliable results — critical for product quality, safety decisions, and regulatory compliance. The calibration process involves: identifying equipment requiring calibration, establishing calibration intervals, performing calibration against traceable standards, recording results (as-found and as-left readings), applying correction factors or adjusting the instrument, and labelling equipment with calibration status. Measurement uncertainty must be considered — an instrument is only as reliable as its calibration.

Calibration Requirements Under UK Law

ISO 9001:2015 Clause 7.1.5 requires monitoring and measuring resources to be calibrated or verified at specified intervals against traceable measurement standards. ISO 17025 provides requirements for calibration laboratories. UKAS accredits calibration laboratories in the UK. In pharmaceutical manufacturing, FDA 21 CFR Part 211.68 requires calibration of equipment at suitable intervals. In aerospace, AS9100 and NADCAP require traceable calibration with documented uncertainty budgets. Using uncalibrated equipment can invalidate test results, lead to product recall, and constitute a regulatory non-conformance.

Key Components of Calibration

  • Dimensional calibration
  • Temperature calibration
  • Pressure calibration
  • Electrical calibration
  • Force/torque calibration
  • Mass/weight calibration
  • Flow calibration

Calibration in Practice

A precision machining company (45 employees) manages 380 calibrated instruments in Q-Hub's Asset Hub — including micrometers, callipers, CMMs, pressure gauges, and temperature probes. Each instrument has a calibration schedule (typically 6 or 12 months) with automatic email reminders 30 days before due date. When calibration is performed, the technician records as-found readings, adjustments made, as-left readings, and pass/fail determination in Q-Hub. Any out-of-tolerance instrument triggers an automatic impact assessment — reviewing all measurements taken since the last known-good calibration. Their NADCAP auditor reviews the complete calibration history directly in Q-Hub.

How to Manage Calibration with Q-Hub

Q-Hub provides comprehensive tools for Calibration management. The Asset Monitoring module handles the core requirements, integrated with document control, audit scheduling, training management, and KPI dashboards to ensure your Calibration processes are audit-ready at all times.

Related Terms

Want to see how Q-Hub handles Calibration in practice? Book a demo or see pricing.

Related QHSE Terms

  • AS9100 — The aerospace quality management standard, based on ISO 9001 with additional requirements for aviati
  • Audit — A systematic, independent examination of processes, products, or systems to verify compliance with d
  • Bow-Tie Analysis — A visual risk assessment method that maps the causes of an event, the event itself, its consequences
  • CAPA — Corrective and Preventive Action — a systematic approach to investigating root causes of non-conform
  • COSHH — Control of Substances Hazardous to Health — UK regulations requiring employers to control exposure t
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