Dear Members,
Welcome to a new EIGA Newsletter.
The Newsletter combines
the monthly FleishmanHillard Policy Monitoring outlook,
the announcements of new publications, and
EIGA news.
I hope you find it useful!
Best regards,
Philippe Cornille, Sec. Gen. EIGA
EIGA follows up closely the official Belgian travel advice and/or restrictions. Till to date, Belgium issued no travel restrictions.
EIGA recommends their members to follow both
Company travel guidelines, and
The official travel advice and/or restrictions issued by their country.
As long as there are no official recommendations against travel to Brussels, and as long as the majority of our membership do not prevent experts from travelling to Brussels, EIGA will continue to host face-to-face meetings in Brussels.
Disinfection/sanitation is foreseen at the EIGA office entrance at the 9th floor. We advise all visitors to regularly wash hands with soap and/or disinfection solutions, and particularly disinfect as soon you enter the EIGA offices.
We respectfully accept any decision to either come to Brussels, or to cancel your face-to-face participation. For the latter, we will set-up a dial-in option for you to join the meeting remotely.
With COVID-19 spreading, also in Europe, medical gas containers can become externally contaminated due to their use in healthcare facilities and homecare settings. It is important that these containers are cleaned in a manner that removes the contaminants, does not cause damage to the container and its accessories, and does not lead to a hazardous situation during the use of the container's contents.
EIGA Doc 222 addresses the handling and external condition of medical gas containers and the removal of contaminants from these containers.
This publication gives guidance on the removal of external contamination from medical gas containers so that the process does not damage the container or its accessories and protects personnel handling medical gas containers and is intended for all personnel who could be involved in cleaning of medical gas containers
Conversion of a cryogenic transport tank oxygen service presents risks if potential hydrocarbon contamination is not addressed and checked. This publication outlines the principles for preventing hydrocarbon contamination of cryogenic transport tanks and guidelines for developing a procedure to safely convert a cryogenic transport vessel to oxygen service.
This publication can be viewed or downloaded on the EIGA Website by clicking here
04Static vacuum insulated cryogenic vessels are used for the storage of cryogenic (refrigerated liquefied) industrial and medical gases and are part of the customer’s gas supply system.
The properties of cryogenic gases require precautions to be taken and safety rules to be followed. Ignoring the precautions and safety rules can lead to accidents.
Cryogenic vessels shall be submitted to periodic inspections and testing.
This publication is intended to be used as guidance for persons involved in the operation, maintenance and inspections of cryogenic liquid storage installations.
This publication replaces EIGA Documents, Doc 114, Operation of Static Cryogenic Vessels, Doc 115 Storage of Cryogenic Gases at Users’ Premises and Doc 119 Periodic Inspection of Static Cryogenic Vessels.
This publication describes the operation and required inspections of static vacuum insulated cryogenic vessels at user premises, designed for a maximum allowable working pressure (MAWP) of more than 0.5 bar. This is in accordance with the definition of pressure equipment in the Pressure Equipment Directive. It may also be used as a guideline for vessels designed for a maximum allowable working pressure of less than 0.5 bar. It covers installations of vessels with an individual water capacity up to 125 000 litres.
Subjects covered in this publication include:
· general information on cryogenic equipment;
· layout and design features for installation;
· putting into service / commissioning (documents, installation, checking);
· maintenance and repair, taking out of service;
· inspections (daily, filling and periodic); and
· training of personnel.
The cryogenic vessels described in this publication are used for the storage of for liquid oxygen, nitrogen argon and helium. The principles are also applicable for other cryogenic gases including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and flammable gases. Toxic gas service is excluded from this publication. This publication does not address the vessels used in the production of cryogenic gases or vessels used for transport, which are covered by the Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive (TPED) or transport of dangerous goods regulations.
This publication applies to new installations and may be used as guidance for existing installations.
This publication can be viewed or downloaded on the EIGA Website by clicking here
EIGA has received reports of serious incidents that have resulted in the rupture of transportable vacuum insulated containers at our filling stations and at user premises.
Analysis of these incidents indicates the root causes as failure to apply appropriate engineering standards, poor operating practice, lack of periodic maintenance and inspection of safety devices and other important operating controls.
This Safety Information is intended to raise awareness of these serious incidents and to provide the basic recommendations and rules to safely operate these containers at our filling stations and user premises.
The Safety Information should be read by managers and employees involved in the filling and maintenance of these containers, or in specifying the procedures for these activities.
This publication can be viewed or downloaded on the EIGA Website by clicking here
On 11 March, the European Commission is expected to publish the EU’s new Industrial Strategy and the Circular Economy Action Plan. The Industrial Strategy will be a central piece of the Commission’s work: it will set the new EU growth strategy to make the Green Deal a reality and ensure a more powerful European industry capable of competing at global level while respecting EU’s fundamental values.
07Set to be published on 4 March, and advanced version of the European Climate Law points to a significant expansion in the Commission’s ability to amend the EU’s greenhouse gas (GHG) targets. The Law, a key element of President von der Leyen’s Green Deal programme, sets a legally binding target for climate neutrality by 2050. The proposal would also allow the Commission to amend intermediate GHG reduction targets via the delegated act mechanism every five years.
08The Polish proposal says that free allocations to the aviation sector, worth about €800m in 2019, weaken the ETS, whose purpose is to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a cost-effective manner”. The document adds that the situation “is currently not reasonably justified”, especially since aviation is “not directly exposed” to carbon leakage.
Link to ENDS Europe article
09A Canadian start-up plans to produce clean hydrogen from underground oil, gas and coal-bed fires using the ‘Hygienic Earth Energy’ concept. This hydrogen is up to ten times cheaper per kilogram than the least expensive, highly polluting methods available today.
Link to RECHARGE article
10New research from DNV GL finds hydrogen key in the ‘second phase’ of energy transition technologies. DNV GL expects green hydrogen to be able to compete with blue hydrogen by 2030.
Link to RECHARGE article
11At least 20% of German’s hydrogen will be green under a circulated draft of Germany’s hydrogen strategy. The plant also includes millions for research and it estimates a big part of the country’s hydrogen to be purchased from abroad.
Link to Euractiv article
12The European Commission is consulting on the review of the Non-Financial Reporting Directive until 14 May 2020, indicating that is considering to expand the scope of the companies required to report and the information to be disclosed, introduce external assurance of non-financial information, and reinforce the double materiality perspective of the Directive.
Link to consultation
13The Sustainable Taxonomy Regulation is expected to be published in the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) in Q3 rather than Q2, following the finalisation of the text through the lawyer-linguist process, as well as the formal approval by the European Parliament in a second reading procedure and by the Member states.
Link to provisional text agreed in inter-institutional negotiations (pre-lawyer/linguist review)
There are many terms that are used to describe how people contribute to safety events, including human failure and human error.
In this publication the term ‘Human Reliability’ is used to describe an area of safety management that considers the human contribution to risk and the systems we need to reduce that risk.
Human reliability assessment (can also be known as Human Error Analysis) is used to gather and present information on these factors in a logical way.
Organisations use human reliability assessment to examine the extent to which they have these factors under good control. If the level of control (and therefore human reliability) can be improved, the assessment will point to how this may be achieved.
This human factors safety information sheet gives an overview of the various aspects to consider and provides assessment checklists.
The safety information sheet is intended for the use of all line managers within the industrial gases industry as well as safety managers and professionals.
This publication can be viewed or downloaded on the EIGA Website by clicking here
