The seventh year of the conference Safety of Technical Equipment 2015, which took place on April 15 and 16, 2015, at the Hotel Sitno in Vyhne, was opened with a ceremonial speech by Mgr. Branislav Ondruš, State Secretary of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic. In his address, he emphasized the unity of occupational health and safety issues and the safety of technical equipment, as well as the ministry’s support for activities leading to the strengthening of care for the lives and health of employees. This is because the ministry perceives the field of occupational health protection as an equal area of comprehensive human care and supports all activities aimed at improving the state of occupational health and safety. Therefore, the State Secretary expressed support for the conference as a traditional event that provides participants with a wealth of useful information for their further professional lives, and also support for Technická inšpekcia, a.s. as an organization with an invaluable contribution to the field of technical equipment safety and the related protection of the lives and health of employees in workplaces in the Slovak Republic. Through his speech, the State Secretary pointed out the importance of caring for the working citizen and the department’s engagement in this area.
In his opening remarks, the professional guarantor of this event, Ing. Dušan Konický, General Director of Technická inšpekcia, a.s., also drew attention to the significant place of occupational health and safety, including the safety of technical equipment, in every area of social life. The broad professional scope of the conference was evidenced by the presence of participants from various fields of occupational health and safety, such as technical equipment operators, manufacturers of technical equipment, inspection technicians, safety technicians, labor inspectors, managers of main mechanics departments, owners of work equipment, service companies, and managers responsible for the safety of technical equipment.
The Safety of Technical Equipment conference has been known to the professional public for many years as a traditional event with a high professional level, ensured by Technická inšpekcia, a.s. through the invitation of renowned experts and lecturers. This year, 14 lecturers provided participants with a wealth of current information, their knowledge, and experience in the following topics:
- labor inspections as part of technical equipment safety,
- implementation of directives for the free movement of products,
- integrated safety,
- technical risks of electrical installations in combined environments,
- welding quality documentation and technical equipment safety,
- use of LPG cylinders,
- technical equipment fires,
- deficiencies in imported machinery and equipment,
- legislative options to avoid sanctions from labor inspection,
- hazardous work and occupational diseases,
- findings from accident investigations.
Because the sphere of technical equipment safety is quite extensive, the organizer divided the conference program into two days, with three blocks of lectures held on Wednesday, April 15, 2015, and another two blocks of lectures on Thursday, April 16, 2015. Discussions on individual issues in the field of technical equipment safety took place not only after each block of lectures in the conference room but also during breaks and, last but not least, at the evening reception on the first day of the conference, where participants had sufficient space for an informal and friendly exchange of views, knowledge, and experience.
On the first day of the conference, participants had the opportunity to hear lectures from chief labor inspectors as well. Ing. Dalibor Hlivák from the Bratislava Labor Inspectorate, in his lecture on the topic of Labor Inspection Performance as Part of Enforcing Technical Equipment Safety, primarily dealt with the statistical evaluation of the activities of labor inspectorates and the deficiencies identified in 2014. His lecture was followed by JUDr. Rudolf Kubica from the Žilina Labor Inspectorate, who provided conference participants with a brief overview of the procedural side of inspections carried out by the labor inspectorate and how inspected entities can prepare for them.
One of the most successful lectures of the opening day of the conference (according to the evaluation of the questionnaire submitted to participants) was the lecture by long-time conference lecturer Dr.h.c. mult. prof. Ing. Juraj Sinay, DrSc., from the Technical University of Košice. The aim of his lecture on the topic of Integrated Safety – safety versus security was to point out that safety must be perceived as part of all human activities. It is important for people to be prepared for the fact that they will encounter dangers or threats at every stage of their lives. One of the effective prerequisites for integrating requirements for risk minimization within integrated safety (safety + security) is the scope and form of communication between both areas—that is, between safety (safety of machines, production cells, as well as complete lines) and security (protection of these entities from external influences).
The second day of the conference was opened by npor. Ing. Pavol Dubaj from the Regional Directorate of the Fire and Rescue Service in Banská Bystrica. In his interesting presentation titled Technical Equipment Fires, he pointed out the need to constantly consider the issue of fire protection, whether in the development and manufacture of technical equipment or its operation, maintenance, and repair. In the first part of the lecture, he spoke about legislation in the field of fire protection affecting the operation, maintenance, and repair of technical equipment; the second part focused on statistical data regarding technical equipment fires and their causes; and in the last part, he presented a specific example of a technical equipment fire, namely a fuel feeder for a heating appliance.
The central theme of one of the last lectures given at the conference was findings from investigations into technical equipment accidents. Long-time conference lecturer plk. Ing. Pavel Hrdý, who works at the Criminalistic and Expert Institute of the Police Force of the Slovak Republic, shared interesting cases of technical equipment accident investigations with the conference participants. As a result of his engaging storytelling and a presentation rich in images, conference participants marked this lecture in the questionnaire as the most interesting lecture of the entire conference.
In conclusion, the Safety of Technical Equipment 2015 conference can be evaluated as a successful event with a high professional level, to which a total of 150 participants contributed through their active participation. Conference participants left not only with positive impressions but also with a wealth of useful information in the field of technical equipment safety that they can utilize in their future practice.
The organizer’s great thanks go to all partners, as the conference would not have been possible without the support of the general partner – Východoslovenská energetika Holding, a.s., the main partner – Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava, a.s., as well as other partners (SPP – distribúcia, a.s., Veolia Energia Slovensko, a.s., Flaga, s.r.o., ProCs, s.r.o., Slovak Welding Society, Pivovar Steiger, a.s.) and media partners (Education, s.r.o., Strojárstvo, ATP Journal).
Related pages: BTZ Conferences, Education.