Northey Technologies as an OEM for Gas Compressors and Vacuum Pumps supply into a global marketplace. The company uses internationally recognised engineering standards where feasible for design and production of equipment.European legislation is administered by directives eg. Machinery, Pressure Equipment and ATEX (explosive atmospheres) meaning Northey equipment must be in compliance to adopt CE marking. EU countries including the UK use regulations to implement these directives in law meaning CE marking is a legal requirement for product safety.
- Affiliation
- Machinery Directive
- ATEX
- Quality
Engineering Standards and Specifications
Typical international standards used by Northey include compatible BS EN, ISO, ASME, and ASTM together with major company specifications. Such specifications are widely used by Oil and Gas companies to ensure their own operational experience is reflected in the equipment design and build.
Northey through its involvement with international projects has developed a robust system of assurance for compliance with customer standards and specifications. This means the company can confidently compete on quality and cost with much larger manufacturers.
Machinery Directive
EC Machinery Directive (98/37/EC) applies to mechanical equipment where the major risk to safety is deemed to be mechanical. Compliance assessment is made against prescribed 'Essential Health and Safety Requirements'(EHSRs) relating to the design and construction of machinery and safety components.
NTL equipment has been risk assessed against the EHSRs and found to be in compliance. CE marking is affixed to the equipment nameplate and a 'Declaration of Conformity' included with documentation as a demonstration of compliance.
PED (Pressure Equipment Directive)
EC Directive (97/23/EC) - PED applies to the design, manufacture and conformity assessment of pressure equipment and assemblies with a maximum allowable pressure greater than 0.5 bar.
Pressure equipment means vessels, piping, safety and pressure accessories. An assembly is several pieces of pressure equipment assembled to form an integrated, functional whole.
NTL pressure equipment has been assessed at PED Class II for offshore process package assemblies recently manufactured in the company workshops. Supporting documentation including composite 'Declaration of Conformity' are issued to the customer.
ATEX (Atmospheres Explosible)
EC Directive (94/9/EC) concerns equipment and protective systems intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres and commonly referred to as the ATEX directive.
Equipment definition - any item containing or constituting a potential ignition source which requires special measures to be incorporated in it's design and/or installation to prevent the ignition source from initiating an explosion in the surrounding atmosphere.
Assessment of equipment against EHSRs is undertaken by the manufacturer and/or notified body before a declaration of conformity to ATEX can be made.
NTL equipment has been ATEX assessed at Cat 2 and T3 level - suitable for use in Zone 1/2 with external surface temperature 200 deg. C rating.
Quality Management System (QMS)
ISO 9000 is a family of standards concerned with 'quality management' - what an organization does to enhance customer satisfaction, by meeting customer and applicable regulatory requirements, and continually to improve its performance in this regard.
ISO 9000 is concerned with the way an organization goes about its work, not directly the end product.
The standard asks; has everything been done to ensure the product meets the customer's requirements?
Northey Technologies are in the process of reviewing their existing Quality System and are currently implementing a QMS which is in full accordance with the requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:2000.
