Features

EU statistics show that between eight and ten arc flash accidents occur in the UK every week,

and the hazards they create are severe. In wind turbines, these hazards are further magnified. Here, Stuart Greenwood of Eaton Corp. explains why and examines ways in which the perils of arc flash accidents in the wind energy sector can be minimised. Almost everyone who works with electricity has heard of arc flash accidents and many know that such accidents can be extremely dangerous. Ask them, however, how common these accidents are and most will say that they are exceptionally rare. Unfortunately, that’s not a...

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UK refining faces a threat to its survival through a combination of factors, including low margins on refining of crude oil and cost impacts of meeting EU and UK legislation. HazardEx spoke to Chris Hunt, Director General of UKPIA, the UK Petroleum Industry Association, to find out what the industry is doing to redress the situation.  UKPIA has nine members: seven companies with refineries (Essar Energy, ExxonMobil, Murco, Petroineos, Phillips, Total and Valero), and two former UK refiners, BP and Shell. The refining and distribution sector is currently worth over 10bn to the UK economy with 8,500 refining sector jobs supporting 54,000 in the extended supply chain and a further 25,000 in the wider economy. “Our...

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This overview from BSI, the British Standards Institute, looks at asset management standards for organisations operating in hazardous industrial environments. Asset management is the implementation of protocols to enhance the welfare of and reduce the risk to an asset. Whilst this is of importance to all assets, there are heightened risks in some areas placing the asset and the operation into potential jeopardy. The hazardous environment is one such example and has an impact on many industrial operations, in particular the petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and nuclear industries. Globally, physical asset management has grown over recent decades due to a combination of, firstly, the need to make sure assets are managed in the most...

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Mary Jo Rogers, a nuclear safety consultant at Strategic Talent Solutions, looks at how the nuclear industry become safer, more reliable and more profitable while under such heavy scrutiny and regulation, and what other industries can learn from this transformation.  Over the past 30 years, despite intense regulatory oversight and public skepticism faced by the nuclear industry following the accidents at Three Mile Island (TMI), Chernobyl, and more recently Fukushima, Japan, nuclear plants in the United States have undergone a complete transformation.  Nuclear power plants are now the most productive, the most reliable and the safest they have ever been: * US nuclear power capacity factor has gone from 48% in 1971...

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