Safety in the process industry

 

The quality of breathing air/compressed air and oxygen mixtures is of great importance for the health and safety of your employees and customers. Monitoring and incidental measurements are required to demonstrate and safeguard this quality. The government is aware of the need for controls on the quality of breathing air and gases. Various authorities are responsible for the legislation in this field. The European Pharmacopoeia, for instance, lays down stringent requirements for the quality of medical air, synthetic air and oxygen. These requirements apply in all countries of the European Union. In the Netherlands, the Medical Public Health Inspectorate supervises compliance with the criteria and the quality assurance of breathing air and medical gases. This applies to breathing air used for industrial applications and by the emergency services such as the fire brigade and SCUBA divers, etc. But worldwide standards, such as ISO 7396, ISO 8573 and ISO 14644, have also been drawn up for breathing air.

NEDLAB, competent and experienced

NEDLAB is the leading laboratory in the Netherlands in measuring the quality of breathing air and medical gases. This applies, for example, to the measurement of the quality of the breathing air produced by a compressor - old or new - and delivered to a point of delivery at user level or the pressure suit of the operator in the chemical industry.

NEDLAB’s skilled, experienced field technicians and analysts have a comprehensive arsenal of mobile measuring equipment and a well-equipped laboratory at their disposal. The measurements, tests and analyses carried out meet all the applicable standards. NEDLAB is therefore an excellent partner for checking and monitoring the quality of the air you use for parameters such as particles, oil, moisture, CO, CO2, SO2, and so on.

Guaranteeing quality

NEDLAB is continually improving the quality of its services. After all, quality has everything to do with safety: ours, yours and that of your employees and customers as well. NEDLAB observes two standards in its quality assurance:

  • ISO 9001
  • NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17025 (see registration number RvA L356 www.rva.nl, the focus being on testing O2 content, oil, H2O, CO, CO2 and SO2

The validation of measuring equipment and analytical methods is, of course, an element of our quality assurance.
Internal and external auditors monitor all our activities and, if they wish to do so, our customers are welcome to carry out an audit. For validation, checks and calibration of methods and measuring equipment, NEDLAB uses only certified standards, such as ISO 17025 ’Accredited gas mixtures’ (by the Van Swinden Laboratorium, for instance).

 When to measure?

When should breathing air and gases be checked? The answer to this question is rather complex and depends on various circumstances. Some situations require frequent measurements or monitoring. Frequent measuring or monitoring is, for example, required at the source and/or compressor or at critical locations. Monitoring is also important at delivery points located in remote areas which are seldom, if ever, used. Incidental measurements are required in the case of expansion activities on mains systems and the commissioning of new installations such as compressors or storage tanks and new buildings necessitate incidental measurements, too.

Pressure suits and compressed air

In various industrial sectors, employees can only work safely in a pressure suit with self-contained air provisions. You probably use a mobile or stationary compressor for this air supply. It goes without saying that this breathing air must meet all the requirements laid down in, for example, the ISO 7396, ISO 8573 and ISO 14644 standards. That applies to the compressed air in cylinders, too. Such cylinders are usually filled with the aid of a compressor. We check the air produced by the compressor in question against the requirements in the different standards as well.

On site and in the lab

On-site measurements on breathing air and gases are, of course, carried out by experienced NEDLAB employees. They also take gas samples for comprehensive analysis in NEDLAB’s laboratory. Besides expertise in the field of breathing air and gases, NEDLAB also has broad experience in testing for contaminants, measuring levels of ingredients and analysing the composition of raw materials, semi-manufactures and end products.

24/7

NEDLAB’s employees are at your service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In the event of an emergency or other urgent need, please call +31 (0)187-47 84 44. Our employees will do their utmost to respond as quickly as possible.

 

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