Weights and Measures (Metrology)

One of the traditional Trading Standards Service responsibilities is the enforcement of weights and measures legislation. The Head of Trading Standards is the Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures for the County.

	Weights and Measures for Business Use  Businesses
	Weights and Measures for Consumer Use  Consumers
	Learn More about the Calibration Laboratory & Weight Hire  Calibration Laboratory & Weight Hire
	Get a Public Weighbridge Operator License  Public Weighbridge Operator Application Form

The Service's Duties

The Service not only has an ongoing inspection programme, to test the accuracy of all weighing and measuring equipment used for trade, but can also verify new equipment as accurate before it is used in the market place. Only equipment that is specifically certified can be used for commercial activity.

A set of kitchen scales will not do! All such equipment must be tested and passed as fit for trade before it can be used. Historically this had to be done by local Inspectors, however, in order to reduce costs to industry the law was changed to allow "self-verification," and this is now done mainly by the scale manufacturers and repairers.

Trading Standards Officers are also responsible for enforcing legislation controlling how goods are sold by quantity, ensuring that the correct units are used for sales, for example the kilogram and metre, and that the amounts consumers are getting are correct. We can test this by buying specific quantities from businesses to check if they are giving fair measure.

The purpose of regulating weights and measures is to ensure that businesses can compete with each other fairly and to give consumers and traders confidence that goods purchased will be of the correct quantity.

Hierarchy of Standards

The most accurate standards of weight and measure, the UK Primary Standards, are held by the National Measurement Office at Teddington in London. They are held in special conditions to ensure they do not change. Secondary and tertiary standards are also held, each level being allowed slightly more variation. The tertiary standards are used to test the County's "Local Standards".

The Local Standards are the County's most accurate weights and measures, and are held at County Hall in a specially designed Calibration Laboratory to ensure they do not deteriorate. They are used to check the equipment that our officers use on a day to day basis. These are the very accurate reference standards to which all "legal" measurement in the County can be traced.

Calibration Laboratory

Worcestershire Trading Standards maintains its own weights and measures standards and testing equipment. Our purpose built calibration laboratory houses 'local' standards of weight, capacity and length. Equipment calibrated in our laboratory is traceable to the United Kingdom's National Standards the very accurate reference standards so would conform to the requirements of most quality assurance systems operated by businesses. The Laboratory also provides a fast and accurate service to business for the calibration of weights, capacity and length measures. We can also hire weights to businesses for calibration purposes. See below for our link to the Calibration Laboratory and Weight Hire.