SUCCESSFUL ATEX & IECEx SEMINAR 2019

The annual ATEX & IECEx Seminar held in the Sheraton Saigon Hotel on 30^th of August, brought together over 120 participants who works in potential explosive atmospheres (Ex), to share their knowledge, the overview of Vietnamese industry and the challenge of how to bring the national industry to a higher level of safety. Especially MR. Mark Amos, from IECEx Secretariat, recognized a big potential for certification of people and services in the Vietnamese Ex industry now, and stated the IECEx’s willingness to contribute in this matter.

Largest seminar by Trainor Vietnam

Increasing in size each year, this year’s seminar brought together representatives from around 35 companies from all parts of the Ex industry, including end users (NSRP, Biendong POC, Idemitsu, PV Gas, Vietsov Petro etc), contractors (PTSC M&C, PTSC POS, TechnipFMC, DDG etc), suppliers, Certification Bodies (Trainor) and even Standard Bodies like IECEx. The companies mainly came from Oil & Gas, Chemicals and other fields related to hazardous areas in Vietnam.

Mr. Einar Thorén, Managing Director, Trainor Electrical Safety AS & Operations Manager, Trainor Certification gave an opening speech at the beginning of the Seminar. Photo: Trainor Vietnam

Ex Standards and IECEx Certification for a sustainable development.

At the first part of the seminar, Mr. Nguyen Van Khoi, the acting director from the Vietnamese Standards Department STAMEQ stated: “The goal of The STAMEQ is encouraging the local companies to be more active in the process of creating standards and applying standards so that those standards really help them to develop sustainably and become competitive in the Asian and the global markets”. “Vietnam have great engineers, very well educated, clever and smart people and some oil & gas companies provide Ex services. We think we can help with the certification of those people and services. Then they can go on helping the Singapore, Malaysia and other parts that exports Vietnamese skills and education. So I think it’s a great potential”, said Mr. Mark Amos who shared Mr Nguyen Van Khoi’s opinion of the country’s potentials in Ex development.

Exchanging Ex knowledge and experiencing VR

An important part of the Seminar was exchanging knowledge related to Ex. The participants were trained in how to read Ex marking. They were explained about the U component, the assessment of equipment assemblies according to IECEx Certification. In addition, some of our participants got to try out Trainor Virtual Reality (VR) for the first time, which seemed to amaze them a lot. Everyone was interested in learning new things and asked a lot of questions related to Ex which had been of their concern during daily works. It is not overstated that the seminar is fully explosive in emotions of the excited participants.

The importance of proper training for Ex personnel

Mr. Bui Hong Lam, TFT – Safety Inspection Team Leader from Nghi Son Refinery / Petrochemical LLC, said: “The people who are working with Ex equipment including installation, inspection, maintenance and design must be trained properly and have enough experiences according to the IECEx standards. ”Mr Bui Hong Lam is one of the first people who attended the Ex General Training Course provided by Trainor in our first year of operation (2017). After that, he states he has become more confident at work and helped to train for other workers in the factory. We were so happy that he accepted our invitation and shared his experience at our event.

Ms. Vu Thi Hong Hanh, the senior official from the Vietnamese Standards Department STAMEQ also shared in her presentation that one of the priorities of the department in the future was pushing the companies to train their personnel who is working with Ex equipment.

Ms. Vu Thi Hong Hanh, the senior official from the Vietnamese Standards Department STAMEQ.Photo: Trainor Vietnam.

As the only IECEx Recognized training provider & Certification Body for Certificates of Personnel Competencies (CoPC) in Vietnam, Trainor is so happy that we are not alone in the path to build up and strengthen the safety of Ex working environment in the country. We have been supported by the government, the IECEx and the dedicated people and organizations which care for the development of Vietnamese Ex industry in the long term.

The only network of Ex people and Ex equipment exhibition

“I am so happy when meeting a lot of my friends, my colleagues who are also interested in Ex like me. I am also more excited in learning new knowledge from the Ex experts at the seminar.” Said Mr. Dinh Quoc An from PTSC M&C, who owed the IECEx CoPC unit Ex1364789 issued by Trainor.

This year we would like to send a very special thank you to our sponsors: Innovative Technology Material JSC, TCA Technology Co., Ltd & MAKGIL Vietnam Co., Ltd for their valued support which contributed to bring success to our seminar. Their excellent display of Ex equipment and products outside the conference room created an awesome atmosphere and brought smiles to all of our participants. This year seminar is a huge success to us, and our goal of gathering all Ex personnel in the country, the delegates from the National Standards Department and from IECEx together came true. Next year we are aiming even higher and we hope to continue receiving support from all of you.

A participant experienced VR during the seminar. Photo: Trainor Vietnam.