CROWES Bulletin March 2008.qxp
11/2/08
11:51
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Letters to the Editor/New Members business where there is a potentially explosive atmosphere should be made aware of the “Significant” Technical changes in the new document. That the changes not only affect the inspector or those “Competent” persons actually carrying out the Inspection and Maintenance work, but also those persons supervising and ordering the work to take place so contractor and client alike. So what are these Technical changes?
“Significant”
1)Additional requirements for inspection and maintenance of electrical installations for combustible dust are included. 2)Knowledge, skills and competencies of “Responsible Persons”, “Technical Persons with Executive Function”, and operatives are explained. 3)Equipment Protection Levels (EPLs) have been introduced and explained. The main one is going to be point 2) where they have now clearly defined the competencies of those involved and the training deemed necessary. The Health and Safety Executive will of course always seek to establish that all persons carrying out work are deemed “Competent” to do so. I have listed below some of the main points that should be considered and I would encourage that a full copy of the standard is obtained from the British Standards Institute website at
http://www.bsi-global.com or phone their customer services on +44 (0)208996 9001. 4.2 Qualification of Personnel The Inspection and Maintenance of installations shall only be carried out by experienced personnel, whose training has included instruction on the various types of protection and installation practices, the requirements of this standard, the relevant National regulations/ company rules applicable to the installation and on the general principles of area classification. Appropriate continuing education or training shall be undertaken by personnel on a regular basis. Evidence of the relevant training and experience claimed shall be available. Annex B B.3 Competencies B.3.1 General Competencies shall apply to each of the explosion protection techniques for which the person is involved. For example; it is possible for a person to be competent in the field of inspection and maintenance of Ex”i” equipment and not be fully competent in the inspection and maintenance of Ex”d” switchgear or Ex”e” motors. In such cases that person’s management shall define this in their documentation system.
executive function and operatives shall be verified and attributed, at intervals not exceeding five years on the basis of sufficient evidence that the person; a)Has the necessary skills required for the scope of work. b)Can act competently across the specified range of activities and can c) Has the relevant knowledge understanding underpinning the competency. In summary this new Standard clearly defines the roles of all those involved in Electrical Inspection and Maintenance in potentially explosive atmospheres and more importantly asks that the person is suitably trained for the work that they are to do and that this training is recorded and updated on a five year cycle and is suitable with National Training and Assessment Frameworks. The CompEx training scheme for example by JTL Ltd offers such a training scheme and can be contacted on www.compex.org.uk for a list of training establishments in the UK. The industry has always had challenges laid down to us and over the next couple of years we all need to ensure that we are indeed employing and using suitably “Competent” persons as required by this standard.
B.4 Assessment The competency of “Responsible “ persons, technical persons with
Gareth Bourhill IEng, MIET,MEI, MFB, GCGI 1 Sheena Drive, Alexandria. G83 9PL
Sotirios Karakolidis Karakolidis 38 Anagenniseos Str Thessaloniki, GR54627 Greece
Basema Al-Mahroos Bapco P.O. Box 25555 Awali Bahrain
Alan Bennett Istobal UK Limited Unit 331C Rushock Trading Estate, Rushock Droitwich Worcestershire WR9 0NR
Leanne Cox CH Jones Ltd Premier Business Park Queen Street Walsall West Midlands WS2 9PB
Rebecca Powell The Electrical Benchmark Limited 4 Amity Place Topsham Exeter Devon EX3 0JE
Glenys Cooper CH Jones Ltd Premier Business Park Queen Street Walsall West Midlands WS2 9PB
Paul Wootten West Supply Electrical 169 Soundwell Rd Soundwell Bristol BS16 4RP
Kevin Ellis Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue 58 St Johns Road Newport Isle of Wight PO30 1LT
APEA New Members Detailed below are new members that have recently joined the APEA during October, November and December 2007. October William Blyth Norwest Holst Limited Astral House Imperial Way Watford Hertfordshire WD24 4WW Gurdal Orak OPET Petrolculuk A.S. Bulgurulu MH. Sarigazi CD No. 47 Uskudar, Istanbul 34696 Turkey Frederick Pitto Cepsa (Gibraltar) Ltd Europort, Building 7 - 2nd Floor PO Box 51, Gibraltar
APEA tel/fax 0845 603 5507
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