How Does Legal Metrology Help Society?

Legal Metrology has developed over 5000 years ago with the development of civilizations, the required consistency of a wide range of measurements used in everyday life which includes the time and the calendar, weights and measures, distance, and area. The fundamental requirement to ensure consistency was that all measurements be driven from standards which are also known as traceability. Further in addition to moral prospects to ensure the integrity of the measurements were contained within the laws of Legal Metrology which creates trust and confidence in the measurement system in a significant component of the social capital of all societies and contributes to the maintenance of civil society.

Legal Metrology Advantage to Society

Having Legal Metrology is a great advantage to society as a whole and individuals. Legal Metrology always has an aim to protect the rights and interest of the consumer, not just that, it also provides various benefits and help to the Indian Economy, Society and various other sectors. Having a wider scope in the Indian Legal Metrology system is the prior responsibility of the Legal Metrology Act to provide the safeguard to the Interest of the public. In this article, we are going to discuss the several advantages of the act to society.

Effects of Legal Metrology

1. Let’s start with metrology, it is a science of measurement to which Legal Metrology provides regulations for the control of measurement and measuring instruments.
2. Also, it protects public safety, the environment, consumers, and traders and is critical to fair practice.
3. It has a great impact on the day-to-day life of a consumer, trader, government regulators, and industrial decisions based on the results of a measurement.
4. The measurement affects the economy and the personal well-being to which Legal Metrology provides safeguards. Also, it protects the perspective of a consumer, for example A kilogram of rice must be a kilogram and no less.
5. It gives a positive effect on a well-functioning society which leads the society to have confidence in all measurements because of the transparency provided for the consumer, businesses, and regulators.
6. It also has a great impact on the government’s role which is to give society the means to establish confidence in measurement results so that traders and consumers can make informed decisions.
7. It provides support and is facilitated by the sound legal metrology system In India.

What Are The Areas Under Which The Legal Metrology System Works?

The Legal Metrology system works almost in every area wherever the dealing is with the consumer and wherever the subject is about the measurement. Here we are going to tell you the different areas where the legal metrology system works are given below:

1. Approval of Measuring Instruments
2. Calibration Services
3. Traceability of Standards and Measurements
4. Verification of Standards and Instruments
5. International Practice
6. Legal System
7. Training of Legal Metrology Officers
8. Accreditation of Service Providers
9. Enforcement
10. Unit of Measurements
11. Responsible Authority

In What Ways The Legal Metrology Helps Society? 

Legal Metrology provides help to society in various ways out of which a few major points we are going to discuss below:

Legal Metrology Helps in Improving Health

1. Legal Metrology provides significant economic and social benefits in medicines and health. It helps in providing the accurate calibration of medical instruments to support the precise and correct diagnosis of disease.
2. Chemical and biological testing is used to decide food quality and medical diagnosis.
3. Through certified reference materials, legal metrology also provides confidence in these results.

Training

Training programs in new and developing areas of Metrology provides an opportunity to model best practice in areas such as coordinate measurement machines and nanotechnologies. However, measurement competency is increased by delivering training programs in the followings:

1. Calibration
2. Measurement uncertainty
3. Analytical method of validation, and
4. Verification test procedure.

The Legal Metrology to Protect the Environment

It helps in monitoring the environment which is a very important factor while taking any decision made by the government. Because we cannot ignore the impact of any decision on the environment.

Decisions made by the government affecting the environment required the support of accurate traceable measurement which is provided by the legal metrology itself.

These decisions impact how we live and include the followings:

1. Monitoring crowd noise at major events, aircraft noise, and industrial noise.
2. Identification of poisons in the environment.
3. Control of fishery resources.
4. Accurate water air and soil testing for pollutants heavy metals, poisons, and pesticide residues.

Help to a Doctor

1. The measurement of a patient’s blood pressure using a sphygmomanometer is a routine procedure carried out in most doctors’ surgery in hospitals under which Legal Metrology provides major help in measurement.
2. Blood pressure measurement is used as a diagnostic tool, but it is subject to considerable inaccuracy. It has been observed in several studies that the test equipment can be inaccurate and prone to user variation.
3. The majority of patients receive the correct treatment but the potential for increase.

Reducing Deaths and Injuries  

Legal Metrology can significantly reduce accidents by changing people’s behaviour, providing early warning signals and delivering effective enforcement of safety requirements. However public trust is an accurate measurement in road traffic enforcement that encourages respect for and compliance with traffic laws.

Help in the Social Goals of the Government

1. As we all are very much aware, the reduction of road traffic accidents is a key social goal for all governments due to the increase in vehicles and increase in the population leads to accidents which are also known as a crime against the state if any person expired in the same.
2. However, in order to prevent the society from accidents plays an important part in the legal metrology law enforcement agencies being able to accurately measure a vehicle’s speed and weight.
3. Legal Metrology plays an important role in measuring the speed and weight with the help of cameras as well and it cannot be possible without the measuring machine.
4. Along with the measurement of speed and weight it also helps in knowing whether the driver has consumed the alcohol by measuring and detecting the same. We are ultimately measuring the public trust with the help of Legal Metrology.
5. Studies in the European Union found that improving the enforcement of current laws could reduce the number of road traffic deaths and serious injuries by an estimated 50% which is ultimately helped by Legal Metrology only.
6. Reduction of the economy, social and emotional costs of reading death and serious injuries, and a critical area of concern for both developing and developed economies within the Asia Pacific region.   (Read also: National Measurement System)