CompEx 25th Anniversary celebrations

The CompEx Scheme came about as a direct result of Lord Cullen’s 13-month investigation into the Piper Alpha tragedy and led to 106 recommendations that transformed the North Sea oil and gas industry into a global leader in safety in these hazardous environments. The CompEx scheme was launched in 1993 and the phenomenal success of the scheme has been marked with many milestones along the way, with Aberdeen College subsidiary ASET the first commercial centre in 1994, ten years later it was celebrating the 10 000 candidate certificated for Gas & Vapour and in 2010 that number had risen to 25 000. Electronic online examinations were introduced in 2013 and JT Limited took over ownership of the scheme from EEMUA a year later in 2014.

The magic 50 000 candidates certificated target was passed in 2015 and now in 2018, that figure has passed 75 000 candidate certificates issued to increase safety in explosive atmospheres and CompEx opened its 60th worldwide centre.

The CompEx Scheme is the recognised global scheme for the protection of oil, gas and chemical workers in both offshore and onshore activities. The scheme assesses the competency of employees and contract staff who are working in environments with the potential risk of explosive atmospheres. It was developed by the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users’ Association (EEMUA), industry experts and JT Limited. JT Limited the CompEx Certification Body, is internationally accredited by UKAS to ISO/IEC 17024 : 2012 Conformity Assessment – ‘General Requirements for bodies operating Certification of Persons’.

CompEx is the only Certification Body that offers UKAS accredited certification for personnel who work in explosive atmospheres. This certification validates the core competency of practitioners working in explosive atmospheres. It also offers complete reassurance to employers managing the safety of these potentially hazardous workplaces and can provide the added benefit by assisting employers reduce their insurance costs.

CompEx is currently certificating in excess of 9000 electro-technical, mechanical crafts persons and engineers a year. This has had a direct impact on improved safety in the workplace.

The CompEx modules are recognised by industry and the UK Regulator (HSE) as a sound methodology for proving core competence of the workforce engaged in Hazardous area work. This work can include the installation, commissioning and inspection of Electrical, Instrumentation and Mechanical equipment which is often designed specifically for use in industries such as off-shore, petro-chemical, pharmaceutical and Dust environments such as sugar, flour and chip board.

Martin Jones is the CompEx Operations Manager who heads up the organisation that oversees the CompEx scheme: “The role CompEx plays 25 years after it was brought into being, is vitally important and has played a huge part in raising safety in these hazardous working environments. I doubt anyone who was involved at the time seriously expected it to become as important as it has or to achieve the kind of numbers we have seen in this, our 25^th year. I hope – and expect – that we’ll be equally impressed by the achievements of the scheme in 2043 when we celebrate the 50^th anniversary and can still look back on the continuing high levels of safety achieved across these sectors. I think we can all be very pleased to be able to raise our glasses to success of the scheme since it was formed back in 1993 and applaud the efforts of those responsible then to have the forethought to ensure that CompEx became a reality and is responsible in so small measure for the safe environments in which so many people work day in, day out around the world.”

Read the article online at: https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/hse/25052018/compex-25th-anniversary-celebrations/