News

HMD Pumps migrated to the new ISO 45001 Health and Safety standard in October 2019. This standard is now held in addition to the ISO 14001 Environmental Standard and the ISO 9001 Quality Standard.

An Independent Standard for Health & Safety in the Workplace

ISO 45001 is an independent standard for health and safety at work developed by national and international standards committees independent of government. It was introduced  to replace the current OHSAS 18001 and our migration from the old standard was achieved with no non-conformances. In fact, the auditor praised our Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) system for its maturity and robustness.

An Industry Leader Including Best Practices for Improving Individual and Organisational Safety

By implementing this most up-to-date standard it positions HMD Kontro as an industry leader and demonstrates a level of excellence that is acknowledged worldwide. The standard indicates that our company is built around best practice improving individual as well as organisational safety.

We have recently updated our hazardous area certification and are now fully certified in accordance with IECEx requirements for mechanical equipment.

IEC is the International Electrotechnical Commission with ‘Ex’ standing for ‘Explosion Protection’ and HMD Kontro is currently, at the time of writing, the only pump manufacturer to have IECEx certification.

What Is Explosion Protection?

Explosion Protection involves protecting against ignition hazards in order to provide safe pump operation with systems designed and operated in compliance with the appropriate regulations.

Rotating parts that come into contact with stationary parts can potentially spark igniting an explosion or fire. Our pumps use non-sparking materials in their construction. High surface temperatures are also closely monitored to avoid them becoming a combustion source.

Alignment Of The ISO 9001 Quality Management System and ISO 80079-34

The ISO 80079-34 standard is part of the IECEx requirement that aligns with HMD Kontro’s ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS). This defines how explosion protection of our products needs to be considered as an integral part of the business and mandates the need for awareness training for all staff.

HMD Kontro’s Staff Receive IECEx Awareness Training

All staff therefore have had to undergo IECEx awareness training as a mandatory requirement and many of HMD Kontro’s quality procedures have been updated to reflect the importance of Ex.

Already Paying Dividends

Within days of receiving his training, Darren Martin, Product Manager for HMD Kontro went on a customer visit where he was asked whether our products are IECEx certified. He was able to confidently reply that they are. The customer representative looked on the IECEx website and saw that HMD Kontro were indeed listed, and were the only pump company recorded.

Conclusion

HMD Kontro is always at the forefront of developing new products and keeping up to date with legal requirements including certification. We are delighted that all staff have received training and believe the IECEx certification will be of huge benefit to many of our existing and future clients.