CoGDEM Comment - Gas Detection Standards

CoGDEM is the Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring, a trade association with a membership of around sixty companies involved in the gas detection industry. We are pleased to have ILM/ETP (the publishers of this IET magazine) as an Associate Member, so we now place a regular column of news from the gas detection industry in IET magazine.

A key reason for manufacturers of gas detection equipment to join a trade association such as CoGDEM is to be involved in the creation and modification process for the range of international standards that apply to the gas detection industry. For example, if a manufacturer of an oxygen detector wanted to suggest an amendment to an existing standard that governs the performance of oxygen detectors, that company cannot join the committee or Working Group for that standard in case there might be a conflict of interest. However, if the company is a member of a trade association such as CoGDEM, they can have their experts attend Working Group meetings or be committee members to represent the industry as a whole, not just their own company.

This representation is not just through the UK gas detection committee EXL/31/1 (with BSI providing the Secretariat), but globally. Currently very active, the two European (CENELEC) gas detection committees TC 216 and SC 31/9 both have strong CoGDEM representation. TC 216 predominantly deals with gas detectors used in the domestic area, such as carbon monoxide and natural gas alarms and combustion gas analysers used by heating engineers. In contrast, the scope of SC 31/9 is gas detectors used in the workplace, either for the protection of the workers or the plant.

As an example of the important standards which are under review by these CENELEC committees, EN 50104 governs the performance requirements and test methods for oxygen detectors, and this was briefly discussed at the February 2017 CoGDEM meeting before it is further discussed at the EXL/31/1 meeting at BSI in April. The subsequent CENELEC committee will then form an opinion on the need for an update to this standard when it meets in Madrid in May 2017.

CoGDEM members can also be involved in the creation of global standards, through the IEC TC31 committee, and a large amount of work is now underway to create IEC 62990 as a global standard for the performance and testing of toxic gas detectors. The European experts on the IEC Working Group will be actively ensuring that this IEC standard is compatible with the existing European standard EN 45544 so that manufacturers and test laboratories find similar requirements no matter where in the world toxic gas detectors are being designed and tested.

At CoGDEM meetings, member companies discuss the current landscape of standards and whether there are any gaps in coverage. As technology advances, standards need to evolve to take into account new techniques or improved gas detection performance. CoGDEM members will shortly be able to join a Working Group to create a new standard to cover the usage of ultrasonic-based detectors. These are used near high pressure gas pipelines so that leaks can immediately be ‘heard’ before the gas concentration builds up to a point where conventional gas detectors would be effective.