R714-500-6. Instrument Certification

  A. Criteria: To be approved, each manufacturer's brand or model of instrument shall meet the following criteria:

  1. The instrument shall provide accurate and consistent analysis of breath specimen for the determination of breath alcohol concentration for law enforcement purposes;

  2. Breath alcohol concentration analysis of an instrument shall be based on the principle of infra-red energy absorption or any other similarly effective procedure as specified by the Department;

  3. Breath specimen analyzed shall be essentially alveolar or end expiratory in composition according to the analysis method utilized;

  4. Measurement of breath alcohol concentration shall be reported in grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath;

  5. The instrument shall analyze a reference sample during certification checks, following procedures outlined in R714-500-6-D;

  6. Other criteria, deemed necessary by the Department, may be required to correctly and adequately evaluate the instrument as practical and reliable for law enforcement purposes.

  B. Acceptance: The Department shall approve all breath alcohol concentration testing instruments employed for law enforcement evidentiary purposes.

  1. The Department shall maintain an approved list of accepted instruments. Law enforcement entities shall select instruments from this list, which list shall be available for public inspection upon request from the Department, Utah Highway Patrol Training Section, 410 West 9800 South, Sandy, UT 84070.

  2. A manufacturer may apply for approval of an instrument by brand or model not on the list. The Department shall subsequently examine each instrument to determine if it meets criteria specified by R714-500 and applicable purchase requisitions.

  3. Upon compliance with R714-500, an instrument may be approved by brand or model and placed on the list of accepted instruments.

  4. Certification Reports verifying the certification of all instruments shall be kept on file by the program supervisor and made available upon request through the Department, Utah Highway Patrol Training Section, 410 West 9800 South, Sandy, UT 84070.

  C. Initial Instrument Certification: All breath alcohol concentration testing instruments used for law enforcement evidentiary purposes shall be certified prior to being placed into service.

  1. The program supervisor shall determine that each individual instrument, by serial number, conforms to the brand or model that appears on the Commissioner's accepted list.

  2. Prior to an instrument being placed into service, a technician shall perform a certification check, following the standardized operating procedure and requirements outlined in R714-500-6-D.

  3. Upon successful completion of these requirements, the instrument shall be deemed to be operating correctly and may be placed into service.

  D. Regular Instrument Certification Checks

  1. Once an instrument has been placed into service, it shall be certified by a technician on a routine basis, not to exceed 40 days between certification checks.

  2. The program supervisor shall establish a standardized operating procedure for performing certification checks, following requirements set forth in R714-500 or by using such procedures as recommended by the manufacturer of the instrument to meet its performance specifications, as derived from:

  a. electrical power check;

  b. operating temperature check;

  c. internal purge check;

  d. invalid test procedures check;

  e. diagnostic measurements check;

  f. internal calibration check;

  g. known reference sample check; and

  h. measurements of breath alcohol concentration, displayed in grams of alcohol per 210 liters of breath.

  A copy of these standard operating procedures may be made available upon request through the Department, Utah Highway Patrol Training Section, 410 West 9800 South, Sandy, UT 84070.

  3. For known reference sample checks set forth in R714-500-6-D-2-g, the instrument shall analyze a reference sample, such as headspace gas from a mixture of water and a known weight or volume of ethanol held at a constant temperature or a compressed inert gas and alcohol mixture from a pressurized cylinder.

  a. The result of the analysis shall agree with the reference sample's predicted value, within parameters of calibration set at plus or minus 5% or 0.005, whichever is greater, or such limits as set by the Department.

  i. For example, if a known reference sample has a value of 0.100, the parameters of calibration set at plus or minus 5% would equal 0.005 (0.100 x 5 % = 0.005). Acceptable parameters of calibration using a known 0.100 reference sample would therefore range from 0.095 to 0.105.

  b. Analytical results of the known reference sample check shall be reported to three decimal places.

  1. Other checks, deemed necessary by the Department or program supervisor, may be required to correctly and adequately evaluate the instrument.

  2. Technicians shall follow the standardized operating procedure as set forth by the program supervisor when performing certification checks.

  3. If an instrument successfully passes all the certification checks, it shall be deemed to be operating properly.

  4. A report of the certification results with the serial number of the certified instrument shall be recorded on the approved Certification Report form by the technician, sent to the program supervisor, and placed in the file for certified instruments.

  5. Results of certification checks shall be kept in a permanent record retained by the technician or program supervisor.

  E. Instrument Repair and Recertification

  1. The Department may at any time determine if a specific instrument is unreliable or unserviceable. Upon such a finding, the instrument shall be removed from service and certification withdrawn.

  2. A report of the certification results showing the certification has been withdrawn shall be recorded on the approved Certification Report form by the technician, sent to the program supervisor, and placed in the file for certified instruments.

  3. Upon proper repair, the instrument may be recertified and again placed into service.

  a. Minimum requirements for recertification are identical to those outlined in R714-500-6-D, sub-sections 2, 3, and 4.

  4. A report of the certification results with the serial number of the recertified instrument shall be recorded on the approved Certification Report form by the technician, sent to the program supervisor, and placed in the file for certified instruments.