Some remarks on definitions and, in particular, on the definition of the term calibration

Abstract

Confucius (Analects xiii:3) ‘It is not possible to have any valid argument until rigorously defined terms are agreed’. In radiation protection dosimetry, we perhaps need to take as the fundamental sources of our definitions for personal dosimetry and area monitoring, mainly those three committees—the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology (JCGM), which gives definitions for metrology generally; the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU), which gives basic physical quantities and units for ionising radiation; and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) for quantities considering the health effect of ionising radiation, for example effective dose, equivalent dose and the quality factor/linear energy transfer function. The JCGM, chaired by the Director of the BIPM, is formed by the seven international organisations that had prepared the original versions of the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM) and the International Vocabulary of Basic and General Terms in Metrology (VIM), namely the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML). In 2005, the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) joined the seven founder international organisations. The Joint Committee took on the work of the ISO Technical Advisory Group 4 (TAG 4), which had developed the GUM and the VIM. Two of the organisations involved in the JCGM, ISO and IEC are also jointly revising the ISO 31 series of standards as the new 80 000 series on quantities and units.