What is the responsibility of a pivot lab in an interlaboratory comparison?

In the context of interlaboratory comparisons, the primary responsibility of a pivot lab is to ensure consistent measurements and assess measurement capabilities across participating laboratories. The reference calibration of the artifact that circulates to participant labs is crucial because it establishes a baseline or a standard against which the measurements from each lab can be compared. This ensures that all participating labs are measuring with the same reference point, which promotes reliability and accuracy in the results obtained from various laboratories.

By calibrating the artifact before distributing it to participant labs, the pivot lab guarantees that any discrepancies in measurement can be traced back to the labs’ equipment or processes, rather than variations in the artifact itself. This process ultimately enhances confidence in measurement results and fosters a culture of quality assurance within the network of laboratories involved in the intercomparison.

Therefore, the chosen answer reflects the essential function of the pivot lab in establishing a common reference to facilitate accurate comparisons of measurement results among diverse laboratories.