curran18 said:
Can anyone help me with the best practices of allowing personal tools within a calibration faciltiy? Should personal tools be allowed and if so what control should be applied to overcome the culture of workers
At the metals testing laboratory that I previously worked at, we initially allowed the use of personal tools, primarily micrometers. These were all uniquely identified and in our calibration recall system, so they were calibrated on a regular basis. One problem we often encountered was the personal tools were usually locked in the individual's tool box.
We later went to no personal tools were allowed in the facility, if they were used to make any type of measurement. The company provided the measurement tools, and items like micrometers assigned to individuals. Hand tools such as wrenches, files, pliers, and screwdrivers that were not used for measurements, were owned by the individuals. Large or expensive tools were owned by the company and were shared.
It did require a constant vigilance because many employees would still bring in their own steel scales, micrometers, dial indicators, and we had to keep after them to take them home.
For a limited number of measurement items, it was less expensive to buy new ones, with calibration, than to recalibrate ones we had. For those, we gave them to the employees, with the stipulation that they had to be taken home, and could not be brought back into the facility.
I am not aware of any requirements in ISO 9001 or ISO/IEC 17025 that prohibit or allow employee owned equipment. The only requirement is that they must follow the same requirements as company owned equipment, if they are used for measurement or testing.
Wes R.