Maintenance and Calibration of Equipment

Equipment can reasonably be expected to perform to its full capability when new but may deteriorate rapidly in use unless properly maintained and calibrated. Maintenance of equipment can be either preventive or curative. Some simple maintenance will be possible by the user however, in many cases it will be the responsibility of the manufacturer, supplier or a recognized agent. Use of this professional maintenance may be a condition of the warranty, and do-it-yourself repairs may invalidate the warranty. 

Between outside maintenance visits, the laboratory should carry out simple routine maintenance. As a matter of course, the instalments should be kept clean, in particular, spilt chemicals should be cleaned up as soon as possible. Other simple checks that can be carried out within the laboratory will usually be listed in the manufacturer s manual. 

Regular calibration and verification ensures that the parameters measured by a particular instrument can be related to a recognized standard. The frequency of instrument calibration may be quite varied, depending largely on the application. If, during the verification of instrument performance, it has been shown that the instrument stays in calibration for about three months, the calibration would be repeated at approximately two-monthly intervals. However, verification (system suitability) will be carried out each time samples are analysed. For some critical analyses, calibration may be performed for each batch of samples or, in an extreme case, for each separate sample. 

Modern, microprocessor-controlled instruments often have an internal standard , with the instrument undergoing an automatic verification check every time the instrument is used. This may be perfectly satisfactory if the standard can be related to traceable calibration standards. To do this, it is usually necessary 

A laboratory should draw up a plan of what performance checks are required for each instrument, why they are necessary and how they should be carried out. Maintenance intervals and performance checks for certain instruments are documented in the CITAC/Eurachem Guide to Quality in Analytical Chemistry [14]. 

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Maintenance and calibration of equipment Standard operating procedures... 

Check the Code of Federal Regulations, Chapter 40, Part 160.81, and tell whether an SOP is required for maintenance and calibration of equipment. 

Review maintenance and calibration of equipment, placing special emphasis on QC acceptance criteria. This can be accomplished... 

This chapter covers general plant safety topics not directly related to specific activities or equipment. Principal subjects are the inspection, maintenance, and calibration of equipment (4.1) spare parts handling (4.2) storage and warehousing (4.3) plant modifications (4.4) hazardous operations (4.5) the use of outside contractors (4.6) and the protection of workers by safety gear and the control of the working environment (4.7,4.8). 

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