Global electrical and mechanical professionals attend CompEx 2013

30 April 2013

Electrical and mechanical professionals working to ensure safety in hazardous or explosive environments from across the world met for the 9^th annual CompEx Best Practice Conference, on April 3 and 4 in Tankersley, South Yorkshire. At the event delegates discussed the latest updates to the IEC Standards, 60079: 10; 60079: 14 and 60079: 17 which CompEx adheres to.

Martin Jones, CompEx Operations Manager, also informed delegates about the strategic move to make the CompEx practical assessments and underpinning knowledge examinations which overall validate a candidate's core competency, paperless, saying this would greatly assist the candidates in receiving faster certification results.
Martin Jones said: "In the 25 years since the Piper Alpha disaster, technology has become more and more advanced and the consequences of mistakes have become increasingly serious, so it's important that we keep up to date with the latest standards. We run these events annually to ensure the licensed centres are fully aware of the international standards which CompEx adheres to. We're delighted with the number of people who joined us at this year's event, especially those delegates who flew in from as far away as Africa, Azerbaijan the Middle East, USA and Singapore to be with us and share their thoughts."
CompEx Chairman Peter Bennett said: "Since its launch in 1993, CompEx has enhanced its structure and is now widely accepted a global solution for benchmarking the competency of personnel working in Hazardous Areas. The on-going challenge for CompEx is to maintain this Global poll position, but, as demonstrated by the different nationalities of the attendees at this year's Best Practice Conference, the industry is willing to support us in this challenge."
The CompEx Best Practice conference promotes use of the CompEx among professionals who validate core competency for candidates working with electrical and mechanical equipment in explosive atmospheres from practitioner level up to professional Application Design Engineer level. The CompEx Scheme was developed following the recommendations of the Cullen Report, following the Piper Alpha disaster in 1987.
Since the launch of CompEx in 1993, more than 36,000 operatives across the world have been certified as competent in line with the CompEx scheme requirements. CompEx is owned by EEMUA and certified by JT Limited who are accredited by UKAS to IEC / ISO 17024: 2003 Competency of Personnel in explosive atmospheres.