SOP For Calibration Program

SOP For calibration program is described in this post which you can follow in the section of the General Industry SOP.

OBJECTIVE

To define a suitable schedule for calibration of Q.C. instruments as per specified frequency.

SCOPE

This procedure is applicable to all instruments installed in Q.C. Dept for calibration, performance check and operational check whichever is applicable for respective instrument.

RESPONSIBILITY

QC Analyst

ACCOUNTABILITY

Manager Quality Control

PROCEDURE

CALIBRATION PROGRAMME

Calibration of Q.C. instruments falls into two categories.
Internal calibration : Such calibration is carried out by using standards available in laboratory.
External calibration: Such calibration is carried out by the third party. (Third party may take Instrument outside premises)
Prepare month wise calibration schedule. This is to be prepared in last week of the month for next month and so on.
Calibration to be carried out as per following frequencies.

+/- 1 day for 15 days
+/- 2 days for monthly
+/- 1 week for quarterly
15 days for half yearly

Before starting calibration, check availability and validity of the required standards.
Ensure that all standard chemicals meet requirement of respective pharmacopoeia and use only qualified instruments (if required) for calibration .
Issue the calibration /performance/operational protocol duly sign with ref. no and issued date and maintain the record.
Before starting calibration /performance/operational check, go through respective procedure and protocol. In case of any discrepancy, contact Executive / Manager.
Perform the calibration/performance/operational check as per specified procedure.
After completion of respective check, write down status of instrument on calibration card and sign it.
In case of results are not satisfactory, immediately inform to Executive / Manager.
Write down all observations/ results in respective protocol and take approval of authorized person.
Before approval of record, authorised person will check all the calculation and ensure that calibration is carried out as per standard procedure and results are satisfactory within specified limits.
Make entry by ‘(√ )‘ marking in calibration schedule.

ACTION PLAN TO BE FOLLOWED BY QC MANAGER:

Ensure that standard operating procedure for calibration is followed.
Check that all the calculations are correct. (If applicable)
Ensure that right standards are used for calibration.
If calibration/operational/performance check of the instrument does not found satisfactory and error is not identified, label the instrument as ‘Out of Calibration’
Inform to instrument engineer regarding the problem.
To check the validity of the testing carried out of all the samples which have been tested on the particular instrument after the last calibration and before calibration failure, collect following data for further action.
Frequency of calibration
Whether the previous calibration done according to the schedule.
Results of the previous calibration.
Confirm the validity of standards used.
Check for replacement of any major parts/ parameters, after the previous calibration.
Carry out retesting of samples tested recently (starting from the last sample) before this calibration till three consecutive samples shows the difference within 2 % w.r.t. previous results, giving priority to finished product sample.
In case of difference is observed more than 2% , re-analyzed the samples and document it.
Enter all the data in tabular format for evaluation.
Q.C. head will review the data and give the final conclusion.