Question
We are wondering if there is any generally accepted procedure to account for seemingly duplicate sample times when operating over the time period when clocks ‘fall back’ one hour for the end of daylight savings time? Our standard practice is to analyze a chemistry sample every half hour, so we foresee two each of the 01:00, 01:30 & 02:00 AM samples this next Sunday morning. Please advise on any generally accepted practice to account for such seemingly duplicate samples.
Answer
I do not know an industry accepted standard for this yet.
If used for control charting, just plot as normal, noting when the sample was taken. For the second 2:30am sample, just note it was after the time change… continue monitoring the process as normal.
If used for lot sampling, analyze the results as normal.
If doing a daily average, then adjust the calculation for the two extra samples, i.e. divide by 26 instead of 24.
At most it may require a slight change to calculations based on the number of samples, otherwise it’s just not a big issue that may require at most a comment or note about the seemingly duplicate sample times or two missing times (in spring).
Cheers,
Fred
Fred Schenkelberg
Reliability Engineering and Management Consultant
FMS Reliability
(408) 710-8248
fms@fmsreliability.com
www.fmsreliability.com
@fmsreliability
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