ACR Journal

NEWS 08 Volume 8 No.1 December 2021 | January 2022 ELECTRICITY: FIVE STEPS TO STAYING ALIVE Martindale Electric has launched its ALIVE electrical safety campaign, which simplifies the key steps to keep all tradespeople safe when working around electricity. The campaign is aimed to raise awareness among all trades, particularly renewables, heating and plumbing installers, who may come onto site or into the workplace who also work with electricity. Steve Dunning, managing director, Martindale, said: “We need to acknowledge that, in terms of the safety of individuals, there is a di erence between the activities that should take place prior to working, such as gaining permission and permits, for example, compared to the activities that are totally critical in terms of preventing accidents and fatalities. For instance, a risk assessment is a critical element of any job, but it is not core to safe isolation in terms of staying alive. The same is true for activities that take place after working on an electrical system, such as safe re-testing and start-up. “We and the Electrical Safety Roundtable have both defined clear and comprehensive 12 step procedures that are well-documented but lives are still being lost – totally needlessly. “In creating our ALIVE message, we are distinguishing between good working practice (such as our complete 12-step approach and the Electrical Safety Roundtable’s guidelines) and shining a spotlight on the 5 vital steps that absolutely must be carried out for your own protection and to prevent loss of life. The 12-step approach will include activities that should certainly take place, particularly in terms of compliance; both sets of process and procedure are valid and, in fact, complementary, but by streamlining the message and focusing on the most vital elements, following the “ALIVE” process is what will, quite literally, keep you alive.” ALIVE: 5 fail-proof steps to safe isolation A - Approved Kit Before starting, make sure your equipment meets all legal safety standards (BS EN61243-3). L - Lock Out Identify the point of isolation – lock it o - and place warning tags onto the equipment. I - Initial Prove Test your Voltage Indicator against the proving unit to make sure that it’s working properly. V - Voltage Test Use your Voltage Indicator to confirm that there are no dangerous voltages in the circuit you are about to work on. E - Ensure Prove and re-test the Voltage Indicator against the proving unit to ensure it is working, before you start working on the circuit. All Martindale electrical testing products will now be sold with a hard copy of the ALIVE message to ensure that it is shared as widely as possible and that the handy card remains accessible at all times to anyone working on or near electricity. Downloadable ALIVE resources for H&S managers are available on the campaign page at: https://martindale-electric.co.uk/5-steps-safe-isolation/ Student prizes for cold chainpapers As organisers of the 7th IIR International Conference on Sustainability and the Cold Chain, the Institute of Refrigeration (IOR) has announced the launch of prizes to identify the best papers written by student authors. A prize for the winning paper is available in each of the conference streams. which are: • Innovation in the Cold Chain. • Retail refrigeration, technology development and design. • Building a sustainable Cold Chain in developing nations. The lead student author of each paper will receive a prize of £250 and an overall winner will be selected to receive an additional prize of £250. Students can find out how to submit an abstract for their paper for the conference at https://ior.org.uk/events/ICCC2022/ICCCC-student-prize. Taking place online from April 11-13 next year, the conference will explore cold chain innovation, developments in refrigeration technology and design and examine what is being done to build a sustainable cold chain. Registration starts from £68.40 for students and delegates from article 5 countries. Full registration fee from £188.40. www.iccc2022.org PANASONIC TO INTEGRATE AMP Panasonic is to "fully integrate'' AMP into the Panasonic Heating & Cooling business, four years after buying the Welwyn Garden City- based distributor. The new structure will be in place by April 2022 and Panasonic says the move will provide exceptional sales, technical support and customer service to distributors, consultants, installers and end-users of Panasonic’s range of solutions for heating, cooling, refrigeration and ventilation. Country manager Jose Manuel Alves said: “Panasonic sees the UK as a key market to invest in for the future. By bringing together the two teams, we will ensure our customers, distributors, consultants and end-users have full access to the extensive resources available from Panasonic, such as the in-house spec team knowledge and software, technical support, design software tools and smart cloud service solutions.”