Phone: 801-763-1600
Fax: 801-763-1010
Phone (toll free): 800-438-4278
E-mail: info@hartscientific.com

Hart Scientific Renews NVLAP Accreditation

Hart Scientific’s temperature calibration laboratory created quite a few years ago when it announced some of the tightest accredited uncertainties in the commercial world. Now, having undergone a rigorous re-examination of its processes and procedures, Hart’s lab has received renewed accreditation under NVLAP—this time to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard.

Besides upgrading to the new 17025 standard, Hart’s latest accreditation includes a number of added processes. Customers can now choose from four levels of calibration by fixed-point for SPRTs, PRTs, and thermocouples. A new “system” (meter and probe) process has been added. And comparison-calibration options exist for PRTs and thermistors, and thermocouples. Uncertainties remain virtually unchanged for previously accredited processes.

Tom Wiandt, manager of the Hart lab, had this to say: “The new procedures we’ve added really make our scope user-friendly. We now have accredited calibration options to specifically accommodate virtually every type of resistance thermometer for which we get calibrations requests.“

In early 2003, Hart split its temperature laboratory into two labs: one for fixed-point or “primary” calibrations (and electrical resistance cals) and one for “secondary” comparison calibrations of PRTs, thermistors, and thermocouples. Segregating the two labs has resulted in a significant reduction in turn-around times for customers. Both labs fall under the new scope.

On October 1st, 2005, Hart Scientific’s temperature calibration lab received renewed NVLAP accreditation  (NVLAP Lab Code 200348-0) for a variety of temperature calibrations as well as resistance and voltage readout devices and DC resistance.

A review of accreditation scopes of other labs shows that Hart’s accredited uncertainties for temperature calibration are the lowest in the U.S. outside of NIST. They are also lower than most commercial accredited labs anywhere in the world, including all labs accredited by UKAS (United Kingdom) and DKD (Germany).

Hart’s scope of accreditation includes calibrations of:

• fixed-point cells
• SPRTs by fixed point
• SPRTs and PRTs by comparison
• thermistors by comparison
• thermocouples by fixed point
• DC resistance
• digital thermometers (readouts)

(Click here for NVLAP’s complete Scope of Accreditation.)

Because Hart’s calibration processes, quality system (Click here for Hart's QA Manual.), and uncertainty calculations have been reviewed by NVLAP and its team of assessors (including the temperature group at NIST), our calibration customers can have the highest confidence in work performed in our lab.

Those who have selected Hart as their calibration vendor in the past, have often sent auditors to review our lab. This has been time-consuming and expensive for our customers and us. This is no longer required since NVLAP has already done it and will continue to monitor Hart’s lab. As a department of NIST, NVLAP has already stated its approval of our lab from the highest authority in the country.

Hart’s customers outside the U.S. can now take advantage of Hart’s accredited services while receiving lower uncertainties than are available through local accredited labs and while still complying with their own quality standards. This is possible through international cooperation and mutual recognition of accreditation bodies.

The "International Arrangement to Enhance Trade" became effective January 31, 2001. This arrangement was signed at a meeting of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) by accrediting bodies in 28 economies and means mutual recognition for calibrations virtually anywhere in the world. Signatories include NATA (Australia), INMETRO (Brazil), NRC (Canada), CNACL (China), PTB (Germany), COFRAC (France), SIT (Italy), JCSS (Japan), UKAS (UK), NVLAP and many others.

In the U.S., NVLAP and A2LA are the primary accrediting bodies. If you’re considering accreditation for your lab, talk to Tom Wiandt at Hart. We can tell you about our experience and help you work through the process.