The safe condition and use of technical equipment throughout all stages of its life cycle—specifically the effort to eliminate or at least minimize the risk of an undesirable event threatening the life and health of persons handling technical equipment during its expected service life and under intended operating conditions—represents the central theme of the conference, the eighth edition of which was organized by Technická inšpekcia, a.s. on 13. and April 14, 2016, at the Hotel Sitno in Vyhne.
The successful course of the Technical Equipment Safety 2016 conference was significantly enhanced by the active participation of 150 attendees—experts in the field of occupational health and safety, particularly operators of technical equipment, manufacturers of technical equipment, inspection technicians, safety technicians, labor inspectors, managers of chief mechanics’ departments, occupational health and safety specialists, owners of work equipment, service companies, and managers responsible for the safety of technical equipment.
The conference program, whose high professional standard was ensured by the organizer’s invitation of 16 renowned experts and lecturers in the field of technical equipment safety, was traditionally divided into two days: three lecture blocks on Wednesday and two lecture blocks on Thursday. An integral part of each lecture block was a discussion on the presented topics, while further and certainly more extensive debates on technical equipment safety issues took place during breaks and especially at the evening reception on the first day of the conference, during which participants had sufficient space for informal and friendly communication and exchange of views.
Technická inšpekcia, a.s. would not have been able to ensure the constantly increasing standard of the conference without the support of the general partner—Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava, a.s., the professional partner—SPP – distribúcia, a.s., and other partners (Flaga, s.r.o., Veolia Energia Slovensko, a.s., Schneider Electric Slovakia, s.r.o., Cofely, a.s., Duslo, a.s., and Pivovar Steiger, a.s.). Promotion of this traditional event was provided by media partners Education, s.r.o., ATP Journal, the Slovak Welding Society, Bezpečná práca, and Strojárstvo/Strojírenství. Conference participants also welcomed the increased presence of exhibitors (Technická diagnostika – Ing. Milan Zaťko, ZTS Elektronika SKS s.r.o., including some conference partners), who presented their products and services in the areas adjacent to the conference room.
The core of the conference’s professional program, through which speakers shared their expert knowledge, experience, and opinions, consisted of the following topics:
- the added value of the accreditation mark in the field of testing, inspection, and certification
- requirements for the safe operation of boiler rooms
- flexible planning of professional inspections and professional tests of technical equipment
- industrial accidents resulting from electrostatic effects
- analysis of the causes of selected serious accidents involving lifting equipment
- safety of playgrounds
- effective modernization of elevators
- fires of technical equipment
- experience from the assessment of equipment abroad
- inspections in the field of technical equipment
- findings from the investigation of technical equipment accidents
- the relationship between technical standardization and the safety of technical equipment.
The conference was opened with a speech on the important role of technical equipment safety, which we encounter regularly not only in our professional but also in our private lives (technical equipment in shopping centers or apartment buildings), by a long-standing expert in the field of technical safety and the professional guarantor of the event, Ing. Dušan Konický, CEO of Technická inšpekcia, a.s. In the first block of the conference, the representative of the Trnava Labor Inspectorate, Ing. Mikuláš Moncman, informed the attendees about the findings of the labor inspection from investigations of accidents related to technical equipment, and Ing. Mária Semanová, representing UNMS SR, spoke about technical standardization and its significance in the field of technical equipment safety. The opening block of lectures was concluded by Ing. Dagmar Bočanová from the Slovak National Accreditation Service, who spoke about the added value of the accreditation mark in the field of testing, inspection, and certification.
On the opening day, conference participants could listen to an interesting lecture by RNDr. Ing. Dušan Skarba, who spoke about the occurrence of industrial accidents due to electrostatic effects. His contribution focused on the characteristics of requirements considered when assessing aspects of electrostatic charge generation during the pumping of liquids with a defined electrical resistance value, focusing particularly on a set of qualitative and quantitative parameters of physical aspects to fulfill the creation of the electrostatic field intensity of electrostatic charges to achieve the conditions for their realization in the form of a discharge with an ignitable electrostatic spark under aerosol cloud conditions.
In the final block of lectures on the first day of the conference, representatives of the organizer—Technická inšpekcia, a.s., Ing. Samuel Maljarčik and Ing. Richard Balluch—delivered their presentations. The first-mentioned lecturer focused on the safety of playgrounds in his lecture. He pointed out that playground equipment is currently subject to the regime of Government Regulation of the Slovak Republic No. 349/2010 Coll., which establishes details on technical requirements and conformity assessment procedures for amusement devices, playground equipment, and sports and recreational facilities. The consequence of failing to ensure the safety of these devices is not only the incurrence of liability (civil, criminal), but a worse consequence can be an injury to a son, daughter, grandson, etc. The central theme of Ing. Richard Balluch’s lecture was the analysis of the causes of selected serious accidents involving lifting equipment, during which he captured the participants’ attention primarily with videos of individual accidents.
One of the most successful lectures of the entire conference was the presentation by Col. Ing. Pavol Hrdý from the Institute of Forensic Science of the Police Force of the Slovak Republic. The cases of technical equipment accident investigations, delivered through the engaging storytelling of this long-standing conference lecturer and accompanied by a presentation with a large number of detailed images and photos, can be considered the metaphorical icing on the cake, which kept all conference participants in their seats until the very end of the conference, which, like the opening, belonged to the guarantor of this event, Ing. Dušan Konický.
In conclusion, the Technical Equipment Safety 2016 conference can be evaluated as a successful event, to which the participating representatives of the professional public contributed significantly through their active participation, taking away a wealth of useful information in the field of technical equipment safety that they can apply in further practice. We would like to thank them for their participation in the conference, the partners for their support, and we are already looking forward to meeting you at the 9th edition of the conference.
Related pages: BTZ Conferences, Education.