Letters to the Editor Sir, Just a note about the article in the news section of the March 2003 Bulletin regarding the 'bloody fuel' who tried to set fire to petrol at the Safeway Petrol Station, West North Street, Aberdeen. At the time of the incident, the emergency procedures were followed, the staff were properly trained and the matter was reported to the Petroleum Officer, as required by the conditions of the petroleum licence, this made what could have been a very serious incident, fairly minor. Surely the HSC should realise that this example of how the current system of Petroleum Licensing protects the public (even bloody fuels) and employees, and one which would be very difficult to replace to ensure the same level of protection. Graham Shand Senior Authorised Officer Aberdeen City Council Trading Standards Service Environment & Infrastructure Tel 01224 523732. Fax 01224 645786. www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/ab erdeen/
Re: BP bespoke training course 18-19th March 03 (letter to APEA Training Chairman) Dear Brian On behalf of the Alliance I would like to register our appreciation for the abovementioned course, which our UK operations team attended last week. The feedback from our team was very positive and there 10
was particular mention of the excellent delivery and presentations from Paul Craven and yourself. I will be in touch shortly to discuss possible future courses including an Audit and Inspection course for members of our maintenance team. One of the most important benefits for us is to see things from an authority/inspectors perspective and to reinforce the message of viewing these as a support where ever possible. Many thanks again and I look forward to additional training projects with APEA in the near future. Martin Rackley Global Alliance HSSE Manager (Europe)
Re: Electrical testing/licence renewal for petrol filling stations Sir, Can somebody help please!! I am the manager of a "hazardous area" electrical company who is going mad! We have 'been involved with petrol filling installations for over 20 years and I am now told (by NICEIC) that none of my Engineers are competent to carry out an electrical work or testing oil petrol Filling stations unless they have the qualification, Comp 'Ex EX07 and EX08 - which incidentally is a £700 course, presently only available at one training centre! Until we have these qualifications we are unable to purchase NICEIC certificates to carry out our electrical tests. This brings us onto the certificates now prescribed for petrol filling stations, the NICEIC now has 3 no. certificates for "visual", "close" and "detailed" reports. Whilst I am the first to
agree that obviously certification should be brought into line with the new industry standards Blue book) it seems that nobody has taken into consideration the Trading Standards requirements for licence renewal. The real world is as most of us know that the expertise possessed generally by Enforcing officers is not sufficient to deal with these new 6 no. page documents and the reality is now that anything goes; (I apologise to the Enforcing Officers that have this expertise). Throughout the country at present all types of paperwork are being accepted for licence renewal given the flux state caused by all of the above confusion, indeed I have been informed that my, local petrol retailers association have informed their members to ignore the new certificate requesting "full documentation and drawings" (a massive expense on a private existing site) because the Trading Standards "aren't bothered" and lets face it these sites and indeed the majority of oil company owned sites will only carry out the minimum certification (and consequently expenditure!) to enable continued trading whatever the NICEIC's viewpoint. Needless to say I have not over contemplated the likely effect D.S.E.A.R. will have on the above. How can our industry get itself into this state, does anybody talk to each other, surely we should have had the new system i.e. certificates, training, qualifications all sorted out and ready to go before we left HSG41- Can we not produce “simple-summary" sheets for the Trading Standards to deal with the new certification? P Williams Worcester Electrical Services
