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Spring is here, and we are excited to bring you the April 2024 OWM Newsletter to highlight our newest NIST Special Publication SP2200-05, “WIM Systems Used in Law Enforcement Applications”, and the newly updated 2024 GUM Guide (Guide to the Expression in Measurement Uncertainty). You will also find interesting articles on “Shrinkflation”, Witness Testing, and Tips to Learn and Teach the SI. We also kick off our new “Information Hours” as hosted by the National Legal Metrology Program (NLMP) team. Lastly, we welcome our new intern Maryanne Amanze, and congratulate Isabel Chavez Baucom to her new position within OWM as a Legal Metrology Standards Coordinator to ensure OWM publications are accurate, timely, and of high quality.
Enjoy our articles, and as always, we welcome your suggestions and feedback.
Katrice Lippa, NIST OWM Chief
Fun and Games: Teach and Learn Measurement System Basics with the SI Units Card Deck
It’s easy to learn the metric system with the SI Units Card Deck (NIST SP 1297), an interactive educational activity that helps learners build their skills using the major elements of the International System of Units (SI). The card deck consists of nine sets of cards, each featuring different aspects of the SI, such as the defining constants, base units, derived units with special names, and prefixes (including the four new prefixes ronna, ronto, quetta, and quecto). The activity includes game instructions, a game template where students develop their own game rules, and supplemental resources. Game play can be adapted for different skill levels, from grade 3 through higher education. Although fun to play as a team activity, the deck is also suitable for use during individual study.
Witness Testing in Official Weights and Measures Inspections
Weights and measures inspections provide a legally required, independent validation of the accuracy of commercial weighing and measuring devices; provide a level playing field for competing businesses; and help ensure consumers get what they pay for and businesses receive accurate payment for the goods and services they sell. But what happens when weights and measures programs lack the necessary standards and equipment to conduct verification tests on a particular type of device? Do such devices simply go unregulated? How does this impact consumers and businesses that rely on the assurances provided by official inspections? The practice of “witness testing” provides a solution to help ensure protections for consumers and businesses alike.
 Package content reduction without changing the price of the product is known as shrinkflation or downsizing.
Uniform Unit Pricing: Tools for Consumers to Fight Shrinkflation
"Shrinkflation" is now a common term to describe how consumer products are sold at the same price, but contents have been slightly reduced. Consumers can use an understanding of unit pricing for product value comparisons and make an informed decision on what they are purchasing. Retailers also benefit when unit price labeling best practices are implemented, which include improvements for ordering, inventory control, and pricing accuracy, which ultimately saves the retailer money from reduced labor costs. NIST OWM provides resources for both consumers and retailers, including NIST SP 1181, Unit Pricing Guide: A Best Practice Approach to Unit Pricing and A Guide to U.S. Retail Pricing Laws and Regulations.
Office of Weights and Measures, National Legal Metrology Program (NLMP) Announces “Info Hours”
The Office of Weights and Measures, National Legal Metrology Program (NLMP) is pleased to announce a new program called “Info (information) Hours”. An Info Hour is a one (1) hour session involving an informal discussion on a specified topic that will allow you to network with the NLMP staff and other subject matter experts (SMEs) by sharing knowledge, experiences, and insight.
NLMP Info Hours will be held approximately once a month. To find out what topics will be discussed as well as the link to the sessions, please view OWM Training and Events webpage. For your convenience, we have provided them below as well. There is no registration required or costs associated with attending. Please be sure to place these dates on your calendar.
State Laboratory Program and NVLAP Accreditation
All state laboratories participate in OWM’s Laboratory Recognition Program and nearly half elect to also participate in NIST NVLAP accreditation. As an additional service (and for nearly 30 years), OWM has provided a complete (100%) subsidy of all the NVLAP fees (both the Administrative and On-Site Assessment) for the state metrology laboratories to achieve NVLAP accreditation. The NVLAP accreditation affords state laboratories with additional international recognition (via its ILAC signatory status) which allows the accredited state programs to extend their portfolio of calibration services beyond legal metrology into other commercial sectors (e.g., pharmaceuticals and aerospace), along with providing accredited calibrations for other state and industry laboratories.
Earlier this year, and based on budget constraints, OWM announced a new policy (effective on April 1, 2024) that will eliminate direct OWM support for the administration fee ($6,695 per year; 2024) for the state laboratories that elect to apply for NVLAP accreditation services. OWM will continue to provide financial support for the on-site assessment fee, which cost is based on the scope of an individual state metrology program and thus varies from state to state. The laboratory on-site assessment fees for 2024 are projected to range from $7,300 to $13,990.
State lab programs currently accredited and those interested in becoming accredited should check with their in-agency finance department and/or state procurement department for how this partial federal subsidy is handled within their state procurement process (open bid process or a process more akin to a matching grant between state and federal organizations). For questions and options regarding a multiple-year contract/plan for NVLAP accreditation, please contact Robert Knake (robert.knake@nist.gov).
NIST OWM will continue to work with NVLAP to investigate opportunities to better optimize and improve the harmonization of our services for all state laboratories. Both OWM and NVLAP are fully committed to trying to resolve these challenges and ultimately maintain the highest level of metrology and accreditation services to the state metrology laboratory community.
Please see the NIST OWM’s State Laboratory Program and NVLAP Accreditation FAQs for more detailed information. Also, feel free to contact Mike Hicks, leader of the Laboratory Metrology Program, at micheal.hicks@nist.gov or Katrice Lippa, OWM Chief, at katrice.lippa@nist.gov if you have further questions or concerns.
New GUM Document for 2024: “Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement – Part 1: Introduction”
Have you or a colleague ever encountered a measurement situation where you knew that measurement uncertainty should be included in the consideration, but you weren’t quite sure how to do that or where to turn for help? A new 10-page document has recently been published by the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology (JCGM) that provides the novice with an introduction and guidance on the basics of measurement, and where to look in the suite of documents now collectively called the “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement” (JCGM GUM-1: 2023) to find the best document to address your need. This new “Guide to the Guides” includes everything from using the well-known law of propagation of uncertainty to more sophisticated techniques, such as Monte Carlo propagation.
As background, in 1997 the JCGM, chaired by the Director of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM), was created by the seven international organizations that had originally in 1993 prepared the ‘Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement’ (commonly referred to as the “GUM”) and the ‘International vocabulary of basic and general terms in metrology’ (commonly referred to as the “VIM”). This included the BIPM with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC), the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC), 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). Representatives from these organizations (and hence perspectives from all these critical measurement sectors) worked together to formulate these guides over the past 25 years. The entire suite of documents is concerned with the evaluation and expression of measurement uncertainty, as well as its application in science, trade, health, safety and other societal activities.
In January 2024, the JCGM published this new document “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement – Part 1: Introduction” (JCGM GUM-1:2023 in the suite), which introduces the processes involved and the subsequent parts in the document suite giving specific guidance on the individual processes in the expression of uncertainty. The new GUM document can be accessed with other Guides in Metrology (as JCGM publications) via the BIPM website.
For any questions, please contact Chuck Ehrlich (charles.ehrlich@nist.gov).
NIST Special Publication on WIM Systems Used in Law Enforcement Applications
According to the 2021 Fact Sheet: The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, one in five miles of U.S. highways and major roads and over 45,000 bridges are in poor condition. A major contributor to road damage stems from heavy or excess weight vehicles – or to be more precise – the heavy axle loads of these vehicles onto the road surface and/or pavement. As claimed by an article of Inside Science, this damage grows exponentially with the axle load of the vehicle. For comparison, a 40-ton commercial truck with 8 axles causes 625 times more road damage than a 2-ton passenger sedan with 2 axles.
The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) is a heavily used highway that comprises a critical link of I-278 – the sole Interstate highway in Brooklyn that connects Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens in New York. Regionally, it is also the only freight route into the New York City (NYC) area from New Jersey to the south through Staten Island and a vital freight route for Nassau and Suffolk Counties. This portion of BQE was completed in 1954; parts of the expressway are at the end of their design life and in a deteriorating state.
Legal Metrology Standards Coordinator
Isabel Chavez Baucom has been selected for a new detail position at NIST as a Legal Metrology Standards Coordinator, effective March 10, 2024. Isabel brings a wealth of documentary standards experience and expertise to the position and will be instrumental in ensuring our publications are accurate, timely, and of high quality. Isabel will be representing OWM and working directly with the NIST Research Library to develop new fully electronic (non-print) and machine-readable (non-PDF options) NIST Handbooks, NIST Special Publications, and other technical guidance documents (see a complete list of OWM publications and documentary standards here).
Isabel will also be working with OWM staff to plan, develop, and implement a modern process to manage and modernize our documentary standard production process. She will continue to share her knowledge and expertise in the laboratory metrology program in a part-time capacity. We are grateful for her ongoing commitment to our Lab Metrology community, so you may see her during OWM metrology training events for this coming year.
OWM is very excited about the possibilities that lie ahead for the future of OWM’s documentary standards and technical publications as Isabel takes on this new challenge. Let’s extend a warm welcome and offer our support as she takes on this important responsibility at NIST and OWM!
March 1 – 7 was National Weights and Measures Week!
We hope each of you had an opportunity to celebrate National Weights and Measures Week in your own special way.
NIST OWM celebrated with the release of John McGuire’s Taking Measure NIST blog “Weighing Your Purchases: How New Laws May Help You Become a Savvier Online Shopper”. Please enjoy this quick and informative read.
We were also pleased to have our own State of Maryland, Governor Moore, proclaim March 1 -7 as Maryland Weights and Measures Week. Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) Secretary Kevin Atticks summed it up by stating, “Weights and Measures Week is a time to recognize and appreciate this important work done by our MDA inspectors.” He also added that the Weights and Measures program in Maryland provides consumer protection services through the inspection of weighing and measuring devices and net contents of packaged commodities in the marketplace for compliance with the law.
We appreciate all that the Weights and Measures community does to protect businesses and consumers in ensuring equity in the marketplace. So, don’t forget to thank a Weights and Measures inspector next time you see them at your local grocery store or gas station!
OWM Welcomes New Associate for Spring 2024 Internship
The Office of Weights and Measures (OWM) welcomes Maryanne Amanze, spring Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) intern.
Maryanne is currently in her second year at Montgomery College in Rockville, Maryland, where she is pursuing an associate degree in Computer Science and Performing Arts.
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2024 World Metrology Day focuses on “Sustainability.”
On Monday, May 20, 2024, please join NIST OWM in celebrating World Metrology Day (WMD) to commemorate the signing of the Meter Convention in 1875. This treaty provides the basis for the International System of Units (SI). WMD is coordinated jointly by the International Organization of Legal Metrology (OIML) and the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM).
The 2024 WMD theme will focus on numerous measurements related to “Sustainability.” The WMD website is available for organizations promoting WMD, including the official poster, press release and other resources.
Start preparing now to celebrate 150 years of the metric system on 2025 WMD. This sesquicentennial anniversary will provide the U.S. legal metrology community with the opportunity to reflect on the long-lasting legacy to the Treaty of the Meter and metric system measurement impacts on daily life.
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Weights and Measures in the News
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