Lifetime Guarantee on Reference Materials

Announced at Achema 2006, all Starna® heat sealed Certified Reference Materials for spectrophotometry are now covered by a lifetime guarantee. Starna® heat sealed CRM's, manufactured in the UK by Optiglass Ltd, are available for the validation of wavelength accuracy, absorbance accuracy, stray light and resolution in the UV and visible regions. These certified references are traceable to NIST primary standards, via an ISO 17025 accredited process.

The new guarantee applies should the parameter value of any CRM moves outside the specified uncertainty budget, provided of course that the failure is not due to physical damage or abuse in normal use and that the references have been routinely re-certified by Optiglass. Under these circumstances it will be replaced free of charge.

Optiglass has held ISO 17025 accreditation for its calibration processes for over five years, but ISO now recommends that CRM producers also be accredited to its Guide 34, covering manufacturing processes. Optiglass is participating in the pilot programme set up by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to establish an accreditation programme for reference material producers to ISO Guide 34.

John Hammond, Technical Manager for Analytical Products at Optiglass, said "We have over thirty five years experience in the development and production of liquid filled, heat sealed cells with the long-term stability and the optical properties needed to produce reliable CRM's. With this wealth of experience and the specific requirements of ISO Guide 34 to provide evidence of stability and homogeneity; statistical analysis of the accumulated data on these materials gives us the validation to announce this unique guarantee."