Technical Corner

With Mr. H.T.E. Jackson in the chair and 20 members, 4 Associate Members and 15 Guests present the A.G.M. cOL'r!lenced at 11.00 am approximately .

a) The minutes of the previous A.G.M had been published in the Bulletin and were received. b) There were 7 apologies for absence with 2 received subsequent to the meeting. c) In his remarks the Chairman expressed the Branch's thanks to all concerned in making the meeting possible and, in particular, to Slough Corporation, for their kindness in permitting the use of their Council Chamber. He went on to point out the success of the past year's activities and stressed that the membershi p at large could be of great assistance by indicating their needs and wishes. As he had held the chair for a period in excess of what was normally permitted he felt it was time to stand down especially "as the Branch has weathered the transition of change in Local Authorities. d) The secretary in his report pointed out that subject to payment of s ubscriptions by those concerned the Branch had levelled out at a manageable membe r ship i n all grades of approx 150' . He apologised f o r t he fact that a greater number of meetings had not been held. He o ffe r ed his thanks to the outgoing committee for their support and hel p during his f inal year in the post.

e) The t r e as ure r hatl sent his apologi e s and the secretary submi tted the balance shee t which the treasurer had pre pared. The f i nal figure in hand would be increased sligh tly by the balance of cash hel d by the secr e tar y. Acceptance of the balance sheet was proposed by Mr. Taunton and seconded by Mr. Furnis s. The meeting accepted t he accounts , f) Both the Chairman and secretary had indicated that they d i d not wish to be considered for re-election but the Treasurer had indicated a wi llingness t o continue. By nomination from the floor and by the Treasur er's acceptance the following were e lected :-

Chairman Secretary Treasurer P. Robinson K.H . Jevons D. J . Ridde t t Buckinghamshire C.C Ber kshire C.C Hampshire C.C

At the request of the incoming Chairman and Secretary the outgoing holders of those posts continued to function for the remainder of the meeting . g) The practice of keeping the committee small was continued and the following were elected:-

D. Taunton

W. Rigby

M. E. Smith Surrey C.C. - re-elected East Sussex C.C - re-elected G.L.C

At this point Mr. P. Robinson proposed a vote of thanks to the outgoing Chairman, officers and committees emphasising the departure of Messrs Jackson, Smith and Sirey and stressing the work done in keeping the Branch functioning . h) Under any other business the following topics were discussed:1. Major leakages - action to be taken after the event- possible prevention powers once the source has been found and the fault rectified. The discussion devolved over a wide spectrum and a plea was put for cause celebre to be written up and published in the Bulletin. 2 . The question of G.R.P. storage tanks had been raised at the meeting on 24th November 1976 and the discussion was extended. Again a plea for publication was made together with any information available about the behaviour of G.R.P petroleum interceptors. 3. A question regarding the treatment of sub-standard sites led to a lengthy discussion on this topic and future policy. 4. The approach to Local Authorities regarding the handing over of r esponsibility for cases formerly licenced by the Home Office led to a lively discussion about the position an Authority found itself in following the upholding of an appeal. Although the advantage of regular inspection by local officers was stressed some felt that the absence of guidelines and lack of support from the H. &.S .E. was a feature that needed rectification . One instance were a condition applied by the fo r mer Home Office Inspector ate to f i r e being extinguished during t anke r diSchar ge local officers noted that this condition seldom compl i ed wi th bu t could t ake no ac t i on. I t was felt t hat an airi ng of t he problem in the Bulletin mi ght help matt ers .

The A.G.M. Closed at 12.30 p.m approximately . At about 2.00 p .m. the meeting re-assembled under the chairmanship of Mr. Robinson to hear an iilustrated t alk on Road Tank Wagon Cons truction and Inspection by Mr. C. L. Davids , one of the G.L.C . Senior Petroleum Inspectors.

Mr. Davids is an M.A.P.E.A and F. Inst. Fire E. and is well known for his lectures at the Association's schools in the South East over the years. His talk provoked a reaction from those assembled and a lively discussion fOllowed.

SOUTH EASTERN

Minutes of Branch meeting held on 24th November 1976 which commenced at 10.30 a.m.

The first part of the meeting dealt with normal business and discussion and was held in the Council Chamber at Slough Town Hall through the courtesy of Slough Corporation. After an interval for luncheon a visit was made to the Langley Terminal of Total Oil Great Britain Limited.

Mr. Jackson took the chair and welcomed 22 Members , Associate Members and Guests to the business meeting. 19 of the 22 visited Langley. 10 Apologies. The Chairman welcomed guests and thanked Slough Corporation through Messrs King and Jevons for their kindness and hOSPitality and for making the prior arrangements for the visit in the afternoon. In his remarks Mr. Jackson reminded those present of the increase in Subscription and the new arrangements for tax allowance. He also sounded the meeting as to its views on a further meeting before the Branch A.G.M. and received confirmation that such a meeting to take the form of a general discussion should be held.

On the discussion that followed the matter of a Branch subscription was mooted but dismissed.

The secretary reported t h at his COpy relating to the visit to Dresser and to the Branch A.G .M. had appar ently gone astray but that a revised note had been sent to the new edi tor of the Bulletin together with copy r elating to the vi sit to Emco Wheaton U.K . Limited's factory . This latter visit had been badly attended but t he greatest number of lett e r s of apology f or any one func t ion had been r e ceived and the company is now doing a great deal to demonstrate its lates t e qu ipment to t he Association. AriSing f rom the l os s of copy the secretary had been i n touch with t he new edi t or who doubles as Branch Se cre tary for the newly-formed Eas tern Branch. He has asked for as much copy as Possible in the near future . While on the subject of the Bulletin the secretary passed on the good news in relation to its reduction in costs. Information that the next issue is due in mid-February has been received.

All members in all grades whose address is in either Essex or Hertfordshire have been transferred to Eastern Branch leaving a total to South-Eastern of 144 of which capitation is claimed for 138 .

In response to a letter from a membe.r a simplified manual dealing with explosives the secretary had been in touch with J.C.J. and gave details of their handbook as well as the latest Guide now published by H.M.S.O. for the H.&.S.E. The secretary repeated his notice of quitting the appointment in 1977.

The treasurer reported that the Branch has sufficient funds to allow for a further meeting prior to the A.G.M. if postage costs and other charges remain as before.

Finance is always a good debating pOint and raised a number of issues as a result of which the secretary . 1S . 1nstructed to lay b f e e or the next . the

Branch meeting a " mot10n t 0 be put at the

Association A.G.M. which will enable following:a) to enhance the . teres t l.n in the ssarily " " " ". 1 not nece Assocl.atl.on l.ndl.vl.dua s," l."nterest b t wl.th an in local gove rnment , u " at l." on th AssoCl. in the disciplines of e ater part t ake a gre should be enabled to in it. .t tion fee b) to enable the capl. a roll t o for each person on a Branchps be incr eased t o £1 .50p " to hoW money can Suggestl.ons as d -be raised wer e ma " dvemeeti ng f avour l.S a the " rtl.s J"or ma . l.ng . one ion followed The discussion sess on the following t opiC f S:-" l a fal. ure on a ) as a r esult 0 tor it was a g .r .p . pe t rol intercep d check for moot e d that a water should le be akage by . carrl.ed filling wl.th tructure if the s out even A request for i s backed with concret e . . this respect feed-back of experiences l.n and on the possible damage to PI·v .c t . bends and the d nee to Protect P as 1C vents was made and the Bulletin was though to be the best vehic le to this end.

b) Both g.r.p. storage tank experiments have been terminated and the results were discussed. It was suggested that the manufacturers might :wish to comment on those results through the Bulletin particularly on the flexing and behaviour of the tanks once installed. The oil industry too might like to comment on the future of such tanks. In the light of the available the meeting was unimpressed. c) Concern was expressed at the practice by certain suppliers of petroleum spirit in combining the certificate required by Regulation 16 of the 1957 Conveyance by Road Regulations in their delivery note. Provided the terms of the Regulation are met there

Presented by PHOENIX

WHERE ' S THE ATTRACTION?

I f particles of paint are given a high electric al charge relative to earth, t hey will be attr acted to earthed objects . This princ i ple is used in electrostatic s praying . The article to be coated is earthed and the consequent attraction of paint to the article not only reduces over s pray but aids wr ap round to such an e x ten t that more than one side may b e a t a time - a very useful ach1eve ment i f one wants to paint both sides of a wi r e fence from one side onl y.

. The r e. a r e dangers , however , and the maJor one 1S of an incendi ve spark igni ting an explos ive conce ntration of paint vapour and a ir. . prov1ded t Ad e qua t o se cur e e v t en t i hat lat _ an ion expl shoul d osive be conce ntration will not occur but t his is not enough. Ste ps must also be taken to pre vent incendive s park dis char ges .

. spout of the s pray gun which i s electrical charge to the pa1nt will have a high potential r elat1ve to earth. Thus a spark will o c cur whenever th e Spray gun spout . 1S brought SUfficiently close to an earthed ob je c t . Whether the spark is incendive or not wi ll depend on the resistance of the circuit. In fact by the introduction of a limiting reSistance or similar contri vance in the high voltage lead to the appears no objection but a warning that' some hauliers are carrying petroleum spirit without the knowledge that the named solvent falls within the law was given. d) General discussion on difficulties in imposing a standard of fire alarm wound up the forum and the morning session closed with a briefing by Mr. Jevons as to local places of refreshment and our thanks were again extended for his route map.

The afternoon session was a most interesting tour of the Total terminal and our thanks have been expressed to the manager for the great trouble he and his colleagues took to make us welcome and instructed.

spray gun spout it is possible to ensure that the spark will never be incendive. In other words, it is possible to make the high voltage circuit intrinsically safe. Control circuits can also be similarly treated and the other electrical equipment associated with the electrostatic spray gun can either be housed in suitable flameproof or pressurised enclosures or otherwise be placed in "safe" locations. there is another snag. Charged particles of paint may be deposited on unearthed objects or on objects which have had an insulating layer formed on them by previous spray deposits. These objects may acquire a high voltage as successive charged particles of paint impinge on them. When the voltage is high enough air insulation will break down and the consequent discharge to a nearby earthed object may result in the formation of an incendive spark. The answer is to enSure that all objects, including the operator, are not only effectively earthed but are kept scrupulously clean . . -- --This r aises an in teres ting di lemma . Should the intrinsic safe ty of equipment be allowed to r est on an oper ati onal requir ement? After all, oper a t ional requir ements ar e the most difficult t o enforce. Mor eover, i ntrins ically saf e eqUi pment i s cer t i fied for use in a Divis ion 0 danger area and a Division 0 area i s an ar ea whe r e an explOSi ve concentration i s always present, lacking only its incendive spark .

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