Article archive for IECEx;
For the last few weeks, the coronavirus has been dominating both political agendas and media headlines. For me, the crisis is clearly showing both the global interdependencies and vulnerabilities of our societies....
It has been more than 20 years since the first IECEx report or Certificate was issued and since those humble beginnings, IECEx has evolved into the “Global Standard”, accepted by industry and Governments when conducting testing and certification of Ex-related Equipment, Services and Competence in the many industries where flammable and combustible materials are extracted, processed, stored and used....
One of the most fundamental rules of work for all conformity assessment systems run by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is the “peer-to-peer” principle. In our case, it means that the members of our organisations are supervising each other in all important kinds of activities. ...
One of my roles as chairman of the IECEx system is to participate in the work of the conformity assessment board (CAB) of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The CAB, which consists of the delegates of 15 countries as well as the relevant IEC officers, governs all activities of the four existing IEC conformity assessment systems....
IECEx is best known for its worldwide Product Certification Scheme, with the benefits of providing a certificate which is viewable on the internet and directly acceptable in many countries, along with the transportability of its test reports, as a means of securing local certification, at minimum cost, where necessary....
I must confess that I am not totally convinced of all the supposed blessings of digitalisation. During my professional career, I have visited many manufacturers in many different industries all over the world and most of those with the highest levels of automation continue to employ significant numbers of manual workers, whether in production, transport or logistics....
In between the more formal plenary meetings of IEC TC31, the Chairman’s Advisory Group (CAG) meets as an assembly of all the convenors of standard Maintenance Teams (MTs), Project Teams (PTs) and Working Groups (WGs), in order to keep everyone informed about what is happening in the other teams, as well as to make recommendations to the chairman for the future development of the work. ...
At the moment, manufacturers and their clients in the European Union (still including the UK) are very confused about the future validity of ATEX certificates issued by UK Notified Bodies. Despite the fact that all big UK Notified Bodies are in very close communication with their European customers and are trying hard to provide acceptable solutions, there is still uncertainty and nobody knows what problems will have to be faced in the coming months and years....
Compared with the success of the IECEx Certified Equipment Program and the Personal Competency Certification program, the IECEx Service Facility Certification (SFC) has seen modest development over the last few years. That situation is now changing! ...
Investigations show that the overwhelming majority of accidents in hazardous areas are caused by a lack of competence, of clear responsibilities and of commitment. In the presentation, this statement will be illustrated by current accidents in European process plants and I will show how a third-party certification system such as that provided by IECEx can help....