Hi John,
I think what they are looking for is a procedure that defines the following:
1. When a calibrated instrument is found to be out of cal, for whatever reason, all parts that have been verified with said instrument, back to the date of last calibration, have to be reinspected.
2. How you will deal with any parts still in your shop that have been found to be rejectable, that were accepted through the use of an out of cal instrument.
3. How you will deal with any parts that have been shipped to a customer that have found to be rejectable, that were accepted through the use of an out of cal instrument.
4. How you will go about preventing any further parts from being accepted until the out of cal instrument has been replaced/calibrated.
5. How you will document this nightmare.
In other words, the finding of instruments that are out of cal, especially by an auditor, opens up a big ol' nightmarish can of worms!
A good way to avoid this is to have another procedure for weekly and sometimes daily calibration verification checks on inspection instruments.
Tim
John,
I think your interpretation is correct.
I feel the best approach it the K.I.S.S. method. I like Tim's comment on checking calibration before using the instruments but I would stay clear of giving too much.
All I would do (will be doing) is to address calibration as you have done. Then I would address when cal checks are required and what to do with equipment that is out of calibration (adjust, repair, factory return, replace,etc,). Then I would write out how you will determine if there is any impact on your production pieces. I would include something where fitness-for-purpose is evaluated for acceptance or rejection. Of course, there needs to be some type of documentation.
I would not address how to cope without a particular piece of equipment. Calibrated skidmores can be rented or borrowed, volt-amp meters can be purchased quickly. I would not tie myself to those details.
We well know that nailer holes in a beam flange certainly do not need to be held to +/- 1/16" while field bolted splice plates often need to be within 1/32" to fit properly (unless match-drilled). With the new AISC program there is a tendency to make every procedure much more restrictive then it needs to be. Trouble is, in the structural steel business, each project can be vastly different than another project, as you well know. No two widgets are the same so it's hard to write a procedure that covers every possibility. All AISC wants everyone to do is to develop procedures that reflect what they will actually do to comply with the AISC Specifications.
Pretty simple, huh? (Yeah,right!)
Chet Guilford
Element 14 envolves writing procedures to verify all equipment is in calibration. This part I think I have covered, but at the bottom of the page, it asks for a procedure to address "what to do if a gage is found out of calibration" and how we as a company will cope with it's absence while it's being sent out for calibration. At least some people here are interpeting that to say what I descibed. I'm not convinced it says we have to have a procedure on "how to cope without a piece of equipment while it's out being calibrated", I think it is asking that we say what we will do if a piece is found to be out of calibration and how we prevent inadvertent use where calibrated equipment is required.
Hello JW!!!
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