On 23. and April 24, 2024, the 14th annual “Safety of Technical Equipment 2024” conference took place at the Wellness Hotel Chopok in Demänovská Dolina. The event was organized by Technická inšpekcia, a.s.
The conference was held under the auspices of Erik Tomáš, Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Family, and the National Labor Inspectorate. Its goal was to provide participants with up-to-date information in the field of technical equipment safety, and for this purpose, experts and lecturers in this field were invited. The conference brought together managers responsible for the safety of machinery and equipment, operators of technical equipment, occupational health and safety specialists, safety technicians, authorized safety technicians, labor inspectors, designers, inspection technicians, manufacturers of technical equipment, entrepreneurs, service companies, and other experts in the field to expand their knowledge with current information on technical equipment safety.
Participants were welcomed by the Director General of Technická inšpekcia, a.s., JUDr. Vladimír Jurík. In his opening remarks, he highlighted the need for technical equipment safety and the mission of Technická inšpekcia, a.s., which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. He also presented the company’s new logo to the participants.
His opening remarks were followed by the conference’s guests of honor—the Director General of the National Labor Inspectorate, Ing. Marek Mitterpák, PhD., and the Secretary General of the Service Office of the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, Ing. Peter Kostolný, who also welcomed the conference participants and emphasized the need for technical safety.
Mgr. Katarína Timková from the National Labor Inspectorate addressed the experiences of the labor inspectorate in investigating workplace accidents caused by technical equipment. In her lecture, after defining the basic legislative framework, she specified workplace accident statistics for 2023 and compared them with the previous period. She also identified the most common sources of workplace accidents resulting in severe health impairment.
The block of lectures continued with a presentation by Ing. Zuzana Szabová, PhD., and doc. Ing. Richard Kuracina, PhD., from the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava on the topic “Danger of combustible dust explosions in industry – methods for determining the explosion characteristics of combustible dusts.” This is a broad topic, as the danger of combustible dust explosions covers a spectrum of materials, industries, and processes, while their research and measurement are an essential part of explosion prevention aimed at ensuring the required level of safety within the industry. In industry, the risk arising from combustible dusts and thus the danger of explosion often cannot be completely eliminated; therefore, it is necessary to know the fire-technical parameters of combustible dusts to minimize the resulting risks.
The afternoon block of lectures was opened by a presentation by mjr. Ing. Michal Juhás from the Institute of Forensic Science of the Police Force of the Slovak Republic on the topic “Consequences of unprofessionally performed work in electrical engineering.” The main task of the institute is to perform expert and professional activities in the field of forensics for the needs of law enforcement agencies, where, in addition to ballistics, fingerprinting, forensic fire chemistry, forensic pyrotechnics, toxicology, mechanoscopy, traceology, defectoscopy, metallography, genetic analysis, forensic informatics, and other branches, forensic and fire electrical engineering is also included as a forensic area of criminalistics dealing with the expert examination of electrical equipment using means and methods generally recognized in forensic practice. The methods were illustrated with examples of investigations into the misdemeanor of general endangerment under Section 285, paragraphs 1 and 3, letter a) of the Criminal Code, and investigations into the misdemeanor of manslaughter under Section 149, paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.
The program for the first day of the conference continued with lectures by Bc. Miroslav Nagy, dipl. z.z., from AGEL Merea, a.s. on the topic “Until the ambulance arrives…” and Ing. Roman Skorka from the Office for Spatial Planning and Construction of the Slovak Republic on the topic “Obligations of the builder during construction – new legislation.”
Doc. Ing. Cviklovič, PhD., subsequently presented on the topic of Safety and Reliability of Autonomous Mobile Robots, introducing participants to the issue of autonomous vehicles for various areas of use, their levels, challenges for testing, systems designed for obstacle detection, radars, and navigation. In addition to technical issues, the lecture touched on ethical questions related to vehicle autonomy.
The final block of lectures on the first day of the conference was opened by a presentation by Ing. David Sárka from Technická inšpekcia, a.s., on the topic “Machine safety throughout the entire life cycle,” which focused on the safety of machinery in the production and operation stages in terms of steps to reduce the risk of dangerous situations, and the safety of machinery in operation within the scope of relevant Slovak legislation and technical standards.
An interesting topic was then presented by Ing. Peter Dzurko, PhD., from ELVOSOLAR, a.s. Photovoltaics from the perspective of safety and operability is of great importance given the significant increase in the number of registered small local and commercial power plants in Slovakia. This is naturally associated with an increase in the number of failures, as well as fires and workplace accidents. The lecture therefore focused in more detail on professional inspections and testing of such equipment.
The penultimate topic of the day was presented by an inspector from Technická inšpekcia, a.s., Ing. Tomáš Kupec, PhD., on the topic “Inspections of steel structures.” Steel structures are defined by the standard as organized systems of interconnected particles designed to transfer loads and ensure adequate stiffness. The lecture focused on the inspection of steel structure documentation, NDT inspections of welded joints of steel structures using various methods, and maintenance or repairs and measures based on identified defects.
The end of the day belonged to doc. Ing. Peter Tomlein, PhD., from the Slovak Association for Cooling, Air Conditioning, and Heat Pumps. In his lecture on the topic “Space for small and large heat pumps in Slovak conditions,” he addressed types of heat pumps and their application in diverse conditions, keeping in mind the goal of achieving low energy consumption. The lecture explained the principles of heat pump operation and their types. Mention was also made of the new Directive EP and R (EU) 2023/2413, which focuses on the promotion of energy from renewable sources.
The conference program continued on April 24, 2024. On the second day of the conference, the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs and Family of the Slovak Republic, Mgr. Erik Tomáš, came to greet the participants. In his speech, he highlighted the contribution of Technická inšpekcia, a.s. and emphasized that ensuring occupational health and safety, as well as dignified working conditions, are priorities for the Ministry of Labor.
The workshop on electrical, lifting, and machinery equipment was opened by a presentation by Ing. Tomáš Magula from ABB, s.r.o. on the topic “Collaborative robot – yes or no?” The speaker discussed the relationship between robot and human at work, types of robotic workplaces, and introduced various types of collaborative robots and the real possibilities of their use while maintaining workplace safety.
The previous topic was followed by another lecture on “Verification of collaborative robots,” presented by Ing. Robert Paška from Technická inšpekcia, a.s. The presentation focused on basic standards, concepts, and requirements dealing with the safety of industrial collaborative robots and the verification of their safety. A practical example was illustrated by measurements on the GoFa™ CRB 15000 collaborative robot.
During the workshop on electrical, lifting, and machinery equipment, Ing. Jiří Vykydal, MBA from SALTEK s.r.o. addressed an interesting and practically useful issue, specifying the rules for the correct installation of surge protectors and discussing in detail common installation errors in his lecture “What to look out for when installing surge protectors.”
The next block of lectures continued with a presentation by PhDr. Branislav Gašparík from Cordi, s.r.o., who focused on the topic “Damage to steel ropes, criteria for discarding ropes.” The breaking of a steel rope often leads to property damage and, in worse cases, health injuries. Identifying the cause of failure not only leads to determining the party at fault for the accident but is primarily a key prerequisite for preventing similar failures in the future. Rope analysis can lead to a better understanding of crane conditions and crane operation, and to its optimization with the aim of increasing safety.
The most frequently identified deficiencies in the safety inspection of electrical equipment, lifting equipment, and machinery were summarized for the audience by Ing. Peter Hušek, Ing. Radovan Šoška, PhD., and Ing. Adam Mihálka from Technická inšpekcia, a.s. Within their areas of expertise, they focused in detail on practical examples from the field where deficiencies threatening health and safety were identified during official testing. After the discussion, the workshop on electrical, lifting, and machinery equipment was concluded.
A workshop on pressure and gas equipment ran concurrently with the workshop on electrical, lifting, and machinery equipment. The first topic was addressed by Ing. Gabriel Zsilinszki from Duslo Šaľa, a.s. in a lecture titled “Sealing leaks during operation and its legislative possibilities.” Sealing industrial leaks is performed during full operating parameters of the leaking equipment without the need for shutdown, and therefore adequate procedures must be followed. By eliminating leaks as they occur, the equipment remains in operation, avoiding shutdown and subsequent repair costs, thus ensuring continuous operation with the fewest possible outages.
The topic “Heat exchangers and their strength calculations according to EN 13445-3 and ASME Section VIII Div. 1, current requirements according to national standards” was the next subject addressed by Ing. Ondrej Zsemlye from ACE Engineering, s.r.o. From a strength perspective, heat exchangers are devices where, in addition to the pressure load, the structure of the body itself must handle not only the thermal expansion occurring during operation but also the expansion resulting from two different heat-exchange spaces. From this point of view, it is important to pay them due attention in relation to the standards of their technical condition and safety. The speaker provided relevant insights in this area.
The block of lectures continued with a presentation on the current topic of drone-based gas pipeline leak inspections and other practical possibilities for drone use, presented by Ing. Michal Ševera from UAVONIC s.r.o. on behalf of Ing. Andrej Hajšel from SPP – distribúcia, a.s.
In the penultimate lecture, Ing. Libor Šubrt from the Technical Inspection of the Czech Republic introduced participants to the issue of Government Regulation No. 192/2022 Coll. on classified technical pressure equipment. He explained not only the position of the Technical Inspection of the Czech Republic but also the legal framework related to the operation of classified technical equipment in the Czech Republic.
Before the final discussion in the pressure and gas equipment workshop, Ing. Martin Lülei from Slovnaft, a.s. had the floor. He introduced the audience to the topic “Experience with implementing RBI at the Slovnaft refinery.” Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) is the process of developing an inspection system based on knowledge of risk and the consequences of failure. Risk analysis identifies various types of damage that can occur, risk locations, the rates at which damage can develop, or the hazards caused by the equipment; therefore, such an assessment is of great importance for health and safety.
Similar to previous years, the 14th annual “Safety of Technical Equipment 2024” conference successfully built on a long-standing tradition and provided participants with a wealth of theoretical and practical information that they will undoubtedly use in practice and in their further professional careers. This also contributes to increasing the overall level of technical safety in Slovakia.
In addition to the organizational team of Technická inšpekcia, a.s., thanks also go to the conference partners and sponsors. We also thank all participants for their attendance and look forward to meeting at the next, 15th annual conference, which will be held from April 29 to 30, 2025, at the Wellness Hotel Chopok in Demänovská Dolina.
Related pages: BTZ Conferences, Education.