In April of this year, a seminar on organizing and carrying out comparison measurements for calibration and testing laboratories took place in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The group of participants was mixed, leading to a broad and complementing range of capabilities and knowledge of the representatives of the national metrology institutes, accreditation bodies, proficiency test providers and calibration and testing laboratories from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tadzhikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan as well as of the four PTB experts.
According to a nice tradition, the stakeholders reported on the most recent national success stories in terms of quality infrastructure development, the results of comparisons in the field of calibration and testing as well as the plans of providers for developing proficiency test programmes.
Training measures on comparisons based on the ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17043 standards were carried out during the event. In addition, EN standards, measurement and testing methods, proficiency testing and interlaboratory comparisons, industry-specific requirements for comparisons for testing laboratories, reference materials, logistics and practical methods were discussed.
Practical comparison examples for calibration and testing laboratories presented by experts and the auditorium were discussed, as well as the preparations of the next regional events for carrying out regional comparisons planned for 2023. This also includes the establishment of a regional coordination committee.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, such meetings are still special and very much appreciated. The participants were very interested, asked many questions and had many eye-opening moments.
This combination of theoretical input and practical examples was the basis for a multitude of results that the participants themselves had identified. We would like to point out that all seminar participants are participating in a proficiency test (PT) on pH in water in accordance with ISO 17043, that they would like to cooperate more closely in the region in the future and that they have suggested topics for future joint seminars. The representatives of the national metrology institutes became aware that there is still a lot of work to be done, but the seminar has motivated them to prepare and take the next steps.
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