Minutes of Meeting s4

Minutes of Meeting

Document No S1098-13

Subject Steering Group Meeting Circulation Steering Group Date 22nd May 2013 Circulation Date 24th May 2013 Location Hitchin Circulation by E-mail and website

Attendees John Saffell (JS) Alphasense Dave Curtis (DC) DRC Leigh Greenham (LG) CoGDEM Jonathan Gilby (JG) City Tech

Apologies

Mike Byrne (MB) Ei Electronics Jonathan Kane (JK) Kane International available on Skype

Agenda

1 Apologies and review of previous minutes and outstanding actions

2 Membership update – gained Envirotech Publications, lost Envin Scientific at renewal

3 Finance: review of 2012/13 final accounts

4 Standards committees, overview of representation

5 CoGDEM Guide to Gas Detection – update

6 Activities: Brief updates on CoGDEM’s recent meetings/communications with BSI, Gas Safe Register, BSS, APPCOG, GISG, HHIC, Ofgem, Fire Safe Register/BlueWatch, PHAM News, BOHS

7 Planning for next CoGDEM meeting – AGM, Tuesday 4th June 2013, elections, Chairman’s statement, approval of accounts

8 Guest speakers: October ideas

9 Publicity: Website update and printed articles in IET CO sub group, Zoë Forman’s project, new leaflet, IGEM Conference Helpline activities

10 Other groups: GASG ESP KTN

11 AOB

12 Dates of next meetings:

Steering Group Main meetings 4 June 2013 3 Sep 2013 15 Oct 2013 Minutes of Meeting

Document/ file: 0d1e50333f0d94956d837a51e921edec.doc

1 Apologies and review of previous minutes and outstanding actions

Jonathan Kane sent his apologies, and Mike Byrne did not attend in person, but was available by phone and/or Skype if required.

The minutes of the last meeting on 14th January 2013, document S-1097-13, were reviewed and accepted. The two noted actions were completed (JS received details of STA Equipment Suppliers Group meeting, and Noor Ali agreed to stand for ISG Chairman), other actions arising will be covered in these notes.

2 Membership update

Since the last Steering Group meeting, we have been joined by Air Liquide and Marcus Pattison’s ETP/ILM group as an Associate Member. However, this balances two members deciding not to renew their memberships this year, Envin Scientific (sensor supplier) and Xtralis/ICAM (sampling system manufacturer). LG has asked Xtralis to reconsider, as they feature prominently in the CoGDEM Guide to Gas Detection. In discussion, other companies to approach include Figaro, EuroGas/Kitagawa and Luminox.

Our current membership numbers are now 56 in total (39 full, 14 associates, 3 free (HSE, Tony Banfield, STA)).

3 Finance

Dave Curtis had distributed the accounts for the financial year ending 31st March 2013, showing we were on budget and had broken even (£7 profit after £1 tax), rather than making a paper loss as we did in 2012. This included writing off as a bad debt the outstanding membership invoice from Det-tronics (UTC with Kidde Safety) from 2010 which we had been chasing without success.

Two outstanding bad debts will be chased, GSS for two years membership fees, and City Tech for their contribution to one of the sponsored All Party Parliamentary meetings.

Income from royalties on sales of the CoGDEM Guide to Gas Detection were not chased before financial year- end as nothing was budgeted, but we have budgeted £500 for income in the current year.

It was felt that our budget for the current year was still appropriate, and that the financial controls being exercised by the Steering Group were appropriate and thorough.

2 Standards and Representation

Our representation on relevant committees and Working Groups remains strong. Since the last Steering Group meeting, Richard King (Honeywell) has volunteered to convene WG10 of TC 216, tasked with updating the standard EN 50244 covering guidance for users of domestic flammable gas alarms. The table on the following page has been updated accordingly, with all known meeting dates added.

of 6 Minutes of Meeting

Committee Description CoGDEM Reps Meeting date(s) Current Issues

Kevin Stockwell L/6/10 UK Ex Forum Sep 2013 @ BSi IECEx conformity (Leigh Greenham)

Kevin Stockwell EXL/31 BSi Ex committee 2 July 2013 ATEX Ex standards (Ron Sinclair) Tony Banfield Was 7 February 2013 Jonathan Gilby Domestic CO to be @ BSi EXL/31/1 BSi Gas detectors Jonathan Kane mandatory, functional Leigh Greenham safety, hydrogen Annual Mike Byrne Tony Banfield Was 13/14 March Jonathan Kane FGA stds, EN50291, TC216, SC31-9 European Gas detectors 2013 Brussels, Jonathan Gilby func. safety annual Mike Byrne Emissions from Was March 2013 (by VOCs (STA now EH/2/1 Dave Curtis stationary sources phone) secretariat)

Ambient Air Quality (inc EH/2/3 & 2/5 John Saffell Was March 2013 Ambient air VOCs)

Gas Industry Safety Jonathan Kane GISG Every other month Funding of CO projects Group (Leigh Greenham)

GSE/30/-/21 BS7967 (Jonathan Kane) FGA Guidance Eddie Quigley Ongoing Update of parts 1- 4 Non-domestic use Kevin Mileson

JWG TC216 & European std for Jonathan Kane Was 27 Feb 2013 Take BS 7967 to Europe CEN TC109 guidance on FGAs Paul Basham Doug Longstaff Chris Allen Evolution of existing IEC60079-29-3 Functional Safety of Gas Martin Lloyd Ongoing standards and EN50402/61508 Detection Systems Mike Skinner consistency Dennis Culver Peter Walsh Was 16 Jan 2013, JWG CMI Toxic Gas Performance Jonathan Gilby EN 45544 update Paris Richard King Gas appliance Phillip Wild IGEM installations, schools, Ongoing Gas detection interlocks Kevin Mileson kitchens etc TC216 WG9 Domestic CO alarms Mike Byrne + 3 Ongoing Add end-of-life feature

TC216 WG10 Domestic flammable gas Richard King Unknown Update user guidance

Was Feb 2013, SC31-9 WG x EMC EN 50270 Scott Langfield Updating existing std Germany

EuNetAir Air quality networks John Saffell June 15th 2013 COST Group

5 CoGDEM Guide to Gas Detection – update Book sales seem to be going well; LG has asked Marcus for an update, he will attend our next Industrial Sub Group meeting and give us the current figures.

DC mentioned that the book is now ‘recommended reading’ on the MCERTS training course.

JG mentioned that he has been asked to check the book to see if there is useful text on the testing and maintenance of toxic gas detectors which could be used within part 4 of EN 45544. Our book would be listed in the bibliography, JG was asked to check with LG prior to use, as copyright is held jointly by CoGDEM and ILM, so permission would need to be agreed, although this should be a formality. 6 Activity Report

LG gave an overview of the key CoGDEM external activities and correspondence since the last Steering Group meeting:

 All Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group: several meetings per month attended.

 HSE: correspondence and meetings on Flues in Voids, mandatory combustion testing for new boilers, amendments to the gas industry Approved Code of Practice (ACoP), changes to EN 50292.

 DECC, Smart Meter consultation response

 Marine Accident Investigation Branch of DfT, their investigation into Lake District boat CO tragedy

 Gas Safe Register: National Stakeholders Meeting

 HHIC, ongoing communications about FGA usage

 Gas Industry Safety Group, attendance at meetings and other correspondence

 Letter to PHAM News and emails to supplier of Black Spots

 Chief Fire Officers Association and Capita, re CO alarm rollout via all Fire Brigades, Blue Watch scheme

 BOHS/HSE, Feb presentation by LG on the Wirral, repeat requested in South Wales in July 2013

 IGEM, new standard for CO2 detectors for kitchens and arrangements for their CO seminar in July

 CO-Gas Safety, feedback on Energy Bill amendment proposals – see AOB below

7 Planning for next CoGDEM meeting, AGM, Tuesday 4th June 2013, elections, Chairman’s statement, approval of accounts LG will write some notes on the year’s activities to allow JS to write his Chairman’s address for the AGM. Some photocopies of the accounts summary could be available unless we email out the full report beforehand. The elections of the Steering Group ought to be non-contentious with all standing again except Jonathan Gilby, and with Noor Ali keen to be his replacement.

MB cannot attend the CO sub group so LG will chair, we will have an agenda item to discuss the applicability of combined smoke and CO alarms, there are concerns these are being promoted as ‘convenience’ products for all applications, rather than being restricted to smaller spaces or rooms, where co-location of smoke and CO sensors is appropriate. There are also some developments on the European FGA user standard to cover, as well as a discussion of the CO2 effect on O2 sensors (see AOB below).

For the ISG sub group, we assume that Noor Ali will be elected and will therefore chair this meeting, as it comes straight after the AGM elections. We will add an item on the agenda on VOC’s (new performance standard in conflict with EN 45544) and carbon dioxide for the same reason.

8 Guest Speakers We will not have a guest speaker during our busy AGM in June. JS will try to get an explosives expert (Alex Contini) from Shrivenham for our October meeting, covering the gaseous types of ‘energetics’. Action: JS

9 Publicity 9.1 Website and recent articles The CoGDEM website is running smoothly, Steve has added a link for the CoGDEM Guide to Gas Detection book, there will be some updates to the CO section soon.

With Marcus Pattison’s IET/ILM group joining CoGDEM, LG continues to write a regular column of gas detection news for IET magazine every two months, the third one has just been supplied.

9.2 CO sub group, Zoe Forman’s project This winter’s CO-Be Alarmed media campaign was quite successful, followed by the CO poisoning storyline in Coronation Street, then media publicity following the death of a family from CO in a Cornish caravan and the Lake District boat tragedy. This has kept CO in the news for many months, with a reported sustained demand for domestic CO alarms.

Zoe will be busy helping with Stacey Rodger’s CO motorhome publicity drive this summer. She and LG will be attending a meeting with the Camping and Caravanning Club to discuss their entrenched position with respect to the use of domestic CO alarms in tents.

9.3 Helpline activities We still take plenty of calls from Kidde customers as they publicise our helpline number in their instructions. LG has asked Kidde to provide an out-of-hours service themselves, as we shouldn’t be dealing with technical questions on their products from callers who are grumpy due to the Kidde number being unavailable evenings and weekends. Notable non-Kidde calls will be related at the main meetings on June 4th.

10 Other Groups Update: GASG, Sensors & Instruments KTN 10.1 The March meeting of the GASG at Cranfield University, on the subject of Gas Sensors in Healthcare, included Mike Byrne as a speaker, talking of low concentration CO detection. Their next meeting is on Thursday 18th July at NPL. The advertised subject of ‘Sensor Validation for Trace and Stack Gas Analysis’ is to be changed to something covering future technologies. LG suggested looking at sensing technologies used in stack gas monitoring that might be transferable to safety applications.

10.2 Carlos Huggins updated us on the Sensors and Instruments KTN at our February meeting.

11 AOB 11.1 Special Interest Groups As reported at our last meeting, the suggestion by Tom Gurd of City Tech that he forms a Special Interest Group on sensors with JS was deemed to be too potentially fraught with conflicts of interest or confidentiality, so this has not been pursued. However, JS is still keen to promote the idea of SIGs, which CoGDEM could coordinate, facilitate and provide free meeting rooms. Suggestions included gas cylinder manufacturers/users, open path manufacturers, Indoor Air Quality, and NDIR (to include CO2). He will mention this at the AGM. 11.2 German initiatives Nothing more heard from Figawa, despite LG’s prompts.

11.3 Carbon dioxide effect on oxygen sensors

JS and JG had a discussion about this issue raised by the FGA manufacturers during TC 216. Bulk CO2 seen in the flues of combustion devices can affect the accuracy of the electrochemical cell used for O2 measurement in most FGAs. This could render them unable to meet the performance requirements of EN 50379. This will be discussed at the CO Sub Group meeting, but FGA manufacturers must be advised to speak to their O2 cell suppliers about this, particularly the change in these characteristics as the cells age. 11.4 CO-Gas Safety LG raised the issue of Stephanie Trotter’s suggested changes to the Energy Bill (consumer levy, new Government committee etc). A request for feedback had come through the All Party Parliamentary CO Group with a three-day deadline, so LG had responded immediately via the APPCOG. Both Stephanie and JK had subsequently asked LG whether he had sought input from other CoGDEM members, and despite LG’s answer, Stephanie made it clear she was not happy that LG had answered on behalf of CoGDEM members. The Steering Group members present today agreed with comments made to LG by other members of the CO Sub Group, that this is precisely LG’s role, and he can use his judgement when to answer on behalf of members, and when to involve them directly. This will be mentioned at the CO Sub Group meeting. 11.5 CoGDEM’s 40th anniversary LG announced that 2014 will see the 40th anniversary of CoGDEM’s formation, and the Steering Group felt this should be marked in some way, though not too extravagantly. We remembered the small desk clocks with logos that were presented to members on the 25th anniversary. A suggestion was made of a hologram, perhaps placed on a grand membership certificate that members could hang in their Reception areas. LG will contact John Sonley about this, as he creates holograms. Perhaps celebratory cake(s) could be provided at the 2014 AGM? 11.6 Jonathan Gilby JS thanked Jonathan for his excellent service as a Sub Group Chairman over the last eight years or so, and hoped he would remain involved. JG said he will still be an active member of CoGDEM as he has been since around 1984. LG added his thanks and commented on Jonathan’s excellent attendance record at CoGDEM meetings.

12 Dates of next meetings:

Steering Group Main meetings 4 June 2013 3 Sep 2013 15 Oct 2013