THE APPLIED INSPECTION
NEWSLETTER

Issue No. 68 - April 2000

FROM THE EDITOR

ISO 9000
British Standards carried out an assessment on 22nd March of the quality management system at Holmewood to ISO 9002, covering laboratory and site work. No non-conformities were raised, for the fifth consecutive time. Thank you to all staff at Holmewood laboratory.

We now intend to extend the ISO 9000 certification to cover Burton and Cleckheaton as well. It is intended that Burton will continue with its UKAS (NAMAS) accreditation, which will be maintained separately. In the longer term, we are looking at implementing an integrated Quality, Environmental and Health & Safety system to ISO 9001, EN 14001 and OHSAS 18002 respectively.

PERSONNEL

Staff on the Move
From the beginning of April Keith Dashper will be transferred to the Cleckheaton branch as Laboratory Supervisor. Keith's vast experience in relation to RT, MT, PT and VT, and Laboratory supervision will be invaluable to help cope with Cleckheaton's ever-expanding workload.

Filling the gap at Holmewood is Ivan Hutson. His position as Laboratory / Site Supervisor will mean working alongside Steve Wilkes, the other Holmewood Supervisor. Ivan has been with the company for almost 15 years, he is both highly qualified and highly motivated. He will be a great asset to the company in his new position.

Keith Dashper and Pat Philbin Reach 50
Against all the odds Pat (on the 15th) and Keith (on the 21st.) both reached their 50th birthdays during March. Congratulations.

Welcome
To Luke Urquhart who joined the company in March, passing PCN level 2 in Penetrant Testing during the first week.

Training Overseas
Kim Sharp carried out a two weeks training course in Quatar (Its somewhere in the Middle East!). He's now looking forward (we think) to three and a half weeks in Nigeria. Its half of a seven weeks programme, with Alan Bartlett doing the other half. Coming up later this year are training contracts in Trinidad (x2), Malaysia and Ireland.

Quotation
"Sometimes you're the statue, sometimes you're the pigeon."

TOM DONEGAN
17 March 2000

Pool Tournament
The Applied Inspection Pool Knockout Tournament, which is free to enter with a prize of £50 to the winner, needs a few more names on the entry forms. So if you haven't put your name down yet, there is a sheet on the Notice Boards at Burton, Holmewood and Cleckheaton laboratories.

Congratulations
Congratulations to the following who have passed NDT examinations:

Martin Long who passed the Ultrasonic Node examination (Category 3.9) to PCN level 2.
Kim Sharp who passed his 5/10 year PCN re-certification examinations in UT (Welds), RT (Welds), MT and PT.
Russell Swain who passed PCN level 2 Radiography (Welds).
John Greenan who passed PCN Level 2 MT re-certification examination.
Martin Stansfield who passed PCN Level 2 MT (again).
Luke Urquhart who passed PCN Level 2 Penetrant Testing (General).
Steve Wilkes who passed PCN Level 2 Penetrant Testing, 10 year re-certification examination.

The National Lottery
The Applied Inspection lottery syndicate is run by Dawn Andrews and Keith Dashper at Holmewood. There are currently 30 members who each pay £1.00 per week (stopped at source) which is put on the Saturday lottery. Anyone who is not a member, and who would like to join, should contact Dawn or Keith.

Our winnings to date are as follows:
1995 - £160.00 (40 weeks)
1996 - £297.00 (52 weeks)
1997 - £220.00 (52 weeks)
1998 - £251.00 (52 weeks)
1999 - £290.00 (52 weeks)
January, 2000 - £50.00 (5 weeks)
5 February, 2000 - £10.00
12 February, 2000 - £10.00
19 February, 2000 - £0.00
26 February, 2000 - £10.00
4 March, 2000 - £40.00
11 March, 2000 - £10.00
18 March, 2000 - £0.00
25 March, 2000 - £0.00
An additional £150.00 has been spent from our winnings in an attempt to win the three roll over jackpots in 1996.
Any errors in the above list will be corrected as soon as possible.

QUALITY & TRAINING

Standards and Specifications
There has been no update this month from BSI PLUS update service of controlled standards and specifications held by Applied Inspection.

NDT Training
The answers to the questions on Ultrasonics in last month's NEWSLETTER are as follows:
1)   D    2)  A     3)  B    4)  D

Here are some more questions, this time on Radiation Safety:

1) The inverse square law as applied to radiation protection states that:
    A. radiation intensity varies inversely as the square of the time spent near the focal spot
    B. radiation intensity varies proportionally with distance from the focal spot
    C. radiation intensity varies inversely as the square of the distance from the radiation source
    D. none of the above

2) Converting old units to SI units, 100 rads = 1 gray (Gy). How many mGy's are their in 1 rad?
    A. 0.10
    B. 1.00
    C. 10.00
    D. 100.00

3) Express 2220 GBq's in TBq's:
    A. 0.222
    B. 2.220
    C. 22.22
    D. 222.0

4) "The quantity of a radioactive source in which the number of nuclear disintigrations per second (activity) is one" is a standard definition which applied to:
    A. Sievert (Sv)
    B. Gray (Gy)
    C. Curie (Ci)
    D. Becquerel (Bq)

Joke of the Month
Smartie says to jelly baby in pub let's go to a club. Jelly baby says no, I'm a bit soft. Smartie says I'll look after you. Jelly baby says OK.

At the club three lockets walk in, Smartie hides under table and jelly baby gets beaten up. Jelly baby says to smartie you were supposed to be looking after me, where were you? Smarties says I'm not fighting with them, they're menthol!

From Keith Dashper

Quality at Applied Inspection
As do most other companies, Applied Inspection has a number of statements relating to its position on that subject. They are Vision, Mission, Quality, Training, Health & Safety, Environmental, Equal Opportunities and Alcohol & Drugs.

These statements are contained in the Company Rules booklet, available at each site on the Notice Board, and the Health & Safety booklet, issued to all employees. In addition, from time to time we also publish the statements in the NEWSLETTER. Here is our Equal Opportunities statement:

Equal Opportunities Statement
1. Applied Inspection is an Equal Opportunities employer and endeavours to foster an atmosphere of mutual tolerance and co-operation amongst it's employees.

We will provide equal opportunities for all employees, and aim to recruit, train, employ and promote staff according to ability and without discrimination or disadvantage of any kind which has no direct bearing on a person's ability to carry out his/her work.

We seek to deal with employees in ways which promote mutual toleration and co-operation, and to ensure that staff act similarly towards colleagues, customers and the general public.

2. The Company as an employer recognises that it is bound by the provisions and the spirit of the Disabled Persons (Employment) Acts 1944 and 1958, the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, the Equal Pay Act 1970, the Race Relations Act 1976 and associated Codes of Practice.

3. The Company will not tolerate acts of direct, or indirect, discrimination or prejudice by its staff and will take any necessary action to ensure compliance with its policy.

The Company recognises that acts of harassment or victimisation are forms of discrimination.

4. The equal opportunities policy will be implemented by the Company, and given to all employees. The Company places a responsibility on its management staff at all levels to ensure that the letter and spirit of this policy is implemented.

5. The Company will seek positively to develop practice which promotes equal opportunities in recruitment, training and promotion. Individual employees at all levels will be expected to co-operate with measures designed to develop equal opportunities and the removal of discrimination.

6. The policy will be monitored and reviewed from time to time.

Quotation
"You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try."

Beverly Sills

HEALTH & SAFETY

Ionising Radiation Regulations 1999
The Applied Inspection Health & Safety Rules, which incorporate Local Rules under the above regulations, have not yet been re-issued to all staff as the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) is still not available from HSE.

CONTACTS

Holmewood, Derbyshire: Tel: 01246 851864 (3 Lines) Fax: 01246 852243
Burton, Staffordshire: Tel: 01283 515163 (3 Lines) Fax: 01283 539729
Cleckheaton, W Yorks: Tel/Fax: 01274 869900
Glasgow, Scotland: Tel/Fax: 0141 3355191
Internet Website: www.appliedinspection.co.uk

Published by: Applied Inspection Ltd., Holmewood, Chesterfield, UK. Editor: D K Thomas 29/03/2000

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