ROUND-UP
In brief
CompAir has published a new
white paper for the food and
beverage industry. Available via
www.is.gd/atorod, the white paper
points out that unlike compressed
air usage in other industries, there
are no standards or legislation that
defi ne an acceptable minimum
purity level for compressed air used
in food manufacture.
Having fi nally staged the
postponed 2020/21 Pump
Industry Awards Ceremony in
late September, the BPMA is now
seeking nominations for the 2022
Pump Industry Awards, returning
on Thursday 31st March, and will
again be staged at the Chesford
Grange Hotel in Kenilworth,
Warwickshire. The entry deadline is
7 January 2022.
Devonport Royal Dockyard has
complied with an improvement
notice from the Offi ce for Nuclear
Regulation. The notice was served
after DRDL failed to carry out
scheduled maintenance tests on
an effl uent extraction system that
is used to support maintenance
and repair activities within the
licensed site. Under licence
conditions, nuclear sites are
required to carry out maintenance
on equipment within a specifi ed
plant maintenance schedule. While
there was no immediate risk to
worker or public safety as a result
of this issue, ONR had previously
raised regulatory concerns around
maintenance on the site and
judged that insuffi cient progress
has been made in this area.
HSE’s inspectors across Great
Britain targeted construction fi rms
to check that their health standards
are up to scratch during a monthlong
inspection initiative in October
2021. The inspections focused on
respiratory risks and occupational
lung disease, looking at the control
measures businesses have in place
to protect their workers’ lungs from
construction dust including silica,
asbestos and wood dust. This is part
of HSE’s longer term health and
work strategy to improve health
within the construction industry.
ALARP guide for
engineers published
A new guide from the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers looks to update safety guidance for
engineers on how to reduce risks to as low as
reasonably practicable (ALARP).
The guide was written by the Institution’s
Safety & Reliability Group after it became clear
that in recent years courts and regulators
have taken di erent approaches towards the
calculation of risk, and new guidance was
needed for engineers.
Keith Miller, lead author of the report, said:
“The Safety & Reliability Group recognised
that developments in both safety engineering
and the law had rendered much of the existing
ALARP guidance obsolete, even to the extent
that it would be inadmissible in court.
The time had come to combine the lessons
from di erent industries and produce a more
ALARP FOR
ENGINEERS :
A TECHNICAL
SAFETY GUIDE
Safety and Reliability Group
Improving the world through engineering
objective, scienti c, and systematic process
that would be legally admissible and convincing.
The document debunks some myths and
unsound practices and provides practical
alternatives, which are backed up by plenty of
examples.
The project involved contributions from law
rms, regulators, consultants, statisticians,
academics and other engineering institutions.
A copy of the report “ALARP for Engineers: A
Technical Safety Guide” can be downloaded via
www.is.gd/ajelon.
ORR publishes interim report
on Hitachi train cracks
Hitachi’s Class 800 and 385 series trains were
a ected by stress corrosion and fatigue cracks.
These resulted in a signi cant number of Class
800 trains being withdrawn from service in
May, according to an interim review by the
government regulator the O ce of Rail and
Road (ORR). It also commended the rapid
industry response and subsequent work to
safely reintroduce trains to service.
Cracks found in the area of the bolster close
to the yaw damper bracket and anti-roll bar
xing points were from fatigue, and cracks
found in the area where the lifting plates attach
to the vehicle body were from stress corrosion
cracking. That occurs when susceptible
materials are exposed to a speci c corrosive
substance while subject to stress.
The regulator’s interim report nds that
since being put back into service, trains
have performed as speci ed, with no unsafe
conditions or harm arising from the cracking.
ORR continues to work with Hitachi and the
industry and expects to publish a nal report in
December 2021.
HM Chief Inspector of Railways at ORR Ian
Prosser CBE said: “Our interim ndings con rm
the cracking in the yaw damper and lifting plate
are a result of fatigue and stress corrosion
cracking – and that Hitachi made the sensible
decision to withdraw all trains. Since then,
the majority of trains have been put back into
service with no unsafe conditions and no harm
arising from the cracking. I welcome the good
collaboration that has taken place since this
issue arose.”
ORR’s nal report will establish the root cause
of the cracking and will review Hitachi’s plan for
long-term eet recovery and management.”
14 www.operationsengineer.org.uk Winter 2021
/atorod
/ajelon
/www.operationsengineer.org.uk