Jim Munro International Compliance

2011 – Year of Humanitarian Engineering

jimmunro — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 00:59:04 +0000

It is interesting to note that Engineers Australia has declared 2011 as the Year of Humanitarian Engineering:

“a year in which we will recognise the role of engineering in improving quality of life and disaster recovery.
“Our goal is to promote the significance and importance of humanitarian engineering to both the engineering profession and wider community so that humanitarian engineering receives the necessary support in Australia and abroad – and continues to make a difference,” it said.

It seems very relevant to the work of Energy for Opportunity (EFO) – http://www.energyforopportunity.org/

Two IEC standards on Ex issued as FDIS

jimmunro — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:28:44 +0000

The following IEC Ex standards have been issued at final draft (FDIS) stage. If you buy at this stage you will get the published standard when it is out.

IEC 60079-20-1 Ed. 1.0 (2009-10) Preview Price: CHF 368.00
Explosive Atmospheres – Part 20-1: Material characteristics for gas and vapour classification – Test methods and data

IEC 60079-29-4 Ed. 1.0 (2009-11) Preview Price: CHF 140.00
Explosive atmospheres – Part 29-4: Gas detectors – Performance requirements of open path detectors for flammable gases

The first standard, IEC 60079-20-1, cancels and replaces the first edition of IEC 60079-1-
1(2002), the second edition of IEC 60074-4 (1975), its amendment 1(1995) and its
complement: IEC 60079-4A (1970), the first edition of IEC/TR 60079-12 (1978) and the first
edition of IEC 60079-20 (1996).

The second standard, IEC 60079-29-4, is a new standard on open path detectors for flammable gases.

The standards can be accessed on the IEC website at JUST PUBLISHED [justpub@iec.ch].

Words of Waltzing Matilda

jimmunro — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:22:24 +0000

For those of you in the TC 31 choir or who are interested in our theme song of Waltzing Matilda, here are the words:

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a Coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,
“Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?”

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker-bag,
“You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!”
Waltzing Maltilda, walzing Matilda,
You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker-bag,
“You’ll come a-walzing Matilda with me!”

Up rode the squatter mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three,
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker-bag,
“You’ll come a-walzing Matilda with me!”
Waltzing Maltilda, walzing Matilda,
You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tucker-bag,
“You’ll come a-walzing Matilda with me!”

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,
You’ll never catch me alive, said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
“You’ll come a-walzing Matilda with me!”
Waltzing Maltilda, walzing Matilda,
You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
“You’ll come a-walzing Matilda with me!”

Ex Family Becomes 100

jimmunro — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:51:27 +0000

There are now over 100 members in the Explosive Atmospheres Group (Ex Family). See http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1868706&trk=anet_ug_hm. I have established the group to provide a forum for exchange of news and views in the Ex industry. Anyone involved in the industry is welcome to join.

IECEx Industry Symposium Melbourne

jimmunro — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 04:21:23 +0000

A flyer is now available of the IECEx Industry Symposium to be held in Melbourne on Wednesday, 2 September 2009. This is being held in conjunction with the IECEx ExMC, ExTAG and other IECEx meetings.

Registration close 26 August and so you should get in quick.

See the flyer below.

Page 2

Page 3

Final page

IEC Standard IEC 60079-29-4 can be bought at FDIS Stage

jimmunro — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:45:33 +0000

IEC 60079-29-4 Ed. 1.0 (2009-08) Explosive atmospheres – Part 29-4: Gas detectors – Performance requirements of open path detectors for flammable gases has been issued for voting as a Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) but can be bought now rather than waiting for the published standard.

This is a relatively new approach being used by IEC. Once published you will receive the definitive version. This special package allows you to save 25%

No technical changes are permitted at the FDIS stage and so you are getting a document that is very close to the final standard.

See below:

http://webstore.iec.ch/webstore/webstore.nsf/artnum/FDIS31819?opendocument&mlref=JP

Replaced or withdrawn publications available from IEC Webstore

jimmunro — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 02:26:05 +0000

IEC has advised that from early August 2009, it will be possible to order more than 8,000 replaced or withdrawn IEC Publications directly from the IEC Webstore.

This should particularly useful when prior editions of Ex standards are needed for testing and certification of Ex products. The IECEx System allows products to be certified to current and one prior edition of standards.

See http://www.iec.ch/online_news/etech/arch_2009/etech_0709/store_1.htm

Energy for Opportunity (EFO) Goes Live

jimmunro — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 04:19:46 +0000

My son Paul is in the process of setting up an organisation that is dedicated to the spread of solar power across West Africa. The organisation (which will become a registered charity) is being set up to implement solar power projects for an environmental organisation (in rural health clinics and schools). The name of the organisation is Energy For Opportunity (EFO) and they are starting work in three West African countries (Sierra Leone, Benin and Mali). My elder son Rob is also involved with EFO.

Today they are formally releasing their website: http://www.energyforopportunity.org/

There is also a facebook page and a twitter feed for EFO: http://tinyurl.com/EFOonFacebook and
http://twitter.com/EnergyForOpp

Keeping Track of TC 31 Standards

jimmunro — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:06:03 +0000

IEC Committee TC 31 Equipment of Explosive Atmospheres is frequently publishing new standards or revising existing ones. There are also corrigenda and interpretation sheets. Keeping track of these can be difficult (even for the Chairman of the Committee!). Hence I am now endeavouring to produce and maintain information that summarises the status of published standards and those that are nearing publication. I intend to place this information regularly on this website so that others can share in the information. However, I am not infallible and those using this information may still wish to check the IEC website or with their local standards provider as well.

The list appears separately on this website under TC 31 Documents.

Jim Munro – Chairman, IEC Committee TC 31

Interpretation Sheet for IEC 60079-29-1

jimmunro — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 00:30:59 +0000

An interpretation sheet (I-SH 01) has been issued for IEC standard 60079-29-1 Part 29-1: Gas detectors – Performance requirements of detectors for flammable gases. This provides an interpretation of the drop test fail criterion in the performance standard IEC 60079-29-1 (2007), Subclause 5.4.14. It clarifies what ‘loss of function’ means in the standard.

The interpretation sheet can be obained free from IEC via their webstore or the TC 31 dashboard.