THE APPLIED INSPECTION
NEWSLETTER

Issue No. 76 - December 2000

FROM THE EDITOR

ISO 9000 Success
Congratulations to all staff involved in gaining ISO 9002 across the whole of Applied Inspection. British Standards Institution (BSI) carried out audits from Tuesday 7th to Friday 10th November at Applied Inspection laboratories and on site. A total of four minor non-conformities were raised, with no non-conformities at Cleckheaton and Chesterfield. Also no non-conformities were raised during the site audit.

Special thanks to Ian Bunting, John Morris and Bob Theaker for their hard work in preparing for the audits. Also to David Baker and Luke Urquhart for their efforts during the site audit at DSF Ltd, and to Paul Goss, Ivan Hutson and Steve Wilkes who all impressed the auditor with their knowledge of the quality management system.

Prior to the recent audit by BSI, only the Chesterfield facility held laboratory and site approval to ISO 9002, and Burton laboratory held UKAS (NAMAS) approval. The success completes an excellent year for the company, which only merged with Applied inspection (Burton) Ltd on 1st January this year. During this time we have gained Investors in People (IIP) and ISO 9002 across the organisation.

A new provisional Scope of Registration has been agreed with BSI as follows:

The provision of in-house and site NDT services, including ultrasonic, radiographic (x and gamma), penetrant, magnetic particle, electromagnetic and visual testing.

Components examined are welds, castings, forgings, machined and non-machined components, both ferrous and non-ferrous, in accordance with national, international, in-house and customer specifications.

Products tested in accordance with the above specifications and industrial standards are applicable to the railway, aerospace, general engineering, construction, fabrication, foundry, mining, petro-chemical, off-shore, power generation and nuclear industries.

PERSONNEL

Welcome
Welcome to the following staff who have joined Applied Inspection during the last month:

Jack Rodgers (Chesterfield) started on 6 November. He is a very experienced radiographer and holds PCN Level II in Radiography (Welds) and Penetrant Testing.

Rex Millward (Burton) has joined as a NDT Engineer working mainly on railway projects in the London area.

Abad Rashid (Burton) has started as a trainee.

Congratulations
To Lee Armstrong, Mark Hutsby, Rex Millward who have passed examinations in ultrasonic rail testing, categories U3 and U14. Lee and Mark have carried out rail testing since gaining the approval at various locations in the south of England.

To Gail Sanderson who attended a one week CITB course on Site Health and Safety Management and passed the end of course examination. She has utilised her qualification, and prior experience gained on-site with John Morris our QHS&E Manager , by carrying out a site HS&E audit at BBC and Yorkshire Artspace building in Sheffield.

Overseas
Alan Bartlett has completed a two weeks NDT training course in Qatar. He will be travelling to Nigeria shortly to replace John Greenan who is currently their training local personnel. Kim Sharp will be travelling to Ireland again shortly to carry out another NDT training course.

Good Luck
Training Manager Kim Sharp has run a two weeks PCN Level 2 Ultrasonic Testing (Welds) course at Burton for five Applied Inspection personnel. Kevin Armstrong, Jamie bacon, Anthony Mitchell, Andrew Robertson and Scott Young have completed the course and have all passed the theory and instruction writing part of the examination. We wish them the best of luck on the practical.

Quotation
"It's like a cross between a Nursery and a Concentration Camp."
Kim Sharp
21 November 2000

Pool Tournament
The Applied Inspection Pool Knockout Tournament is nearing its conclusion. Paul Goss, one of the pre-tournament favourites from Burton is through to the final. The pre-tournament favourite from Chesterfield, Steve Wilkes, is still in the competition. But he needs to get past both Nick Bond and Graham Clay to reach the final. The current situation is the same as last month, that is:

Finalist: Paul Goss
Nick Bond v Steve Wilkes - winner to play Graham Clay.

The National Lottery
Dawn Andrews at Holmewood and Keith Dashper at Cleckheaton run the Applied Inspection lottery syndicate. There are currently 33 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)
February, 2000 - £30.00 (4 Weeks)
March, 2000 - £50.00 (4 weeks)
April, 2000 - £10.00 (5 weeks)
May, 2000 - £20.00 (4 weeks)
June, 2000 - £0.00 (4 weeks)
July, 2000 - £10.00 (5 weeks)
August, 2000 - £10.00 (4 weeks)
September, 2000 - £30.00 (5 weeks)
7 October, 2000 - £0.00
14 October, 2000 - £20.00
21 October, 2000 - £0.00
28 October, 2000 - £10.00
4 November, 2000 - £0.00
11 November, 2000 - £0.00
18 November, 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) D      3) B     4) D     

Here are some more questions, this time on Eddy-Current Testing (ET):

1. A test specimen used as a basis for calibrating test equipment or as a comparison when evaluating test results is referred to as a:

     A. Null-balancer.
     B. Phase shifter.
     C. Reference standard.
     D. High pass filter.

2. In an eddy current testing situation, which of the following can provide sources of noise?

     A. Instrumentation electronic circuits
     B. Nonspecific variations within the test object
     C. Electrical interference
     D. All of the above

3. The ratio of the response or amplitude from signals of interest to the response or amplitude of indications that contain no useful information for the test being conducted is referred to as:

     A. Poisson's ratio.
     B. Signal-to-noise ratio.
     C. The conductivity-to-permeability ratio.
     D. The reactance-to-resistance ratio.

4. Which of the following is not a basic component of eddy current equipment?

     A. Amplifier
     B. Coil
     C. Liquid Couplant
     D. Detector

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 Vision statement:

Vision Statement
Applied Inspection aims to be internationally renowned for its supply to industry of first class nondestructive testing (NDT), engineering inspection and consultancy services.

Joke of the Month
A duck went into the pub and asked for a pint of beer. The barman said, "I don't believe it, a talking duck." The duck replied, "Never mind about that, I'm thirsty. I've been working on the building site over the road and I need a pint." The duck drank two pints and left. He then made it a regular thing, two pints after work.

One day a man from the circus came into the pub. The barman told him about the duck. The man from the circus told the barman to tell the duck to come and see him, as he would be offered a job for life and name his own wages.

The next day the barman told the duck about the man from the circus and his offer. The duck said, "Come off it, you must be joking". "No" said the barman; "I'm serious." The duck replied, "Come off it, what use is a plasterer in a circus?"

PAT SLATER

HEALTH & SAFETY

Back Pain
If you have back pain, you are not alone. Nearly two-thirds of adults in the UK have had experience of back pain; and 2.5 million people have back pain every day of the year. If you suffer from back problems, go to www.backpain.org for more information.

It is the Website for 'BackCare', which is the new name for the National Back Pain Association. It is a UK Charity which helps people manage and prevent back pain by providing advice, promoting self help, encouraging debate and funding scientific research into better back care.

New TLD Holders
From 1st January 2001 TLD holders will be supplied with a new design of clip fastening. It resembles a crocodile clip permanently attached to the back of the TLD.

The current style of fastener will no longer be available from NRPB as of 1st January 2001. However, we will continue to use the current style until it is necessary to replace them through damage or normal wear and tear.

The old style of (safety) pin fastening holders will still be available from NRPB for use where the fastener needs to pass through the fabric of the article to which it is secured.

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 22/11/2000

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