After a year’s hiatus the North West Branch held a lively Golf Day followed by the AGM. The meeting was well attended and the incoming Chairman is Andy Bradley of Omniflex, a manufacturer of specialist monitoring and control systems including cathodic protection power supplies for reinforced concrete.
At the meeting several options for the forthcoming year were discussed, including the Christmas meal, golf day and AGM, together with an initial couple of technical events. On the 4th of September, Chris Atkins will be outlining the new international standard on cathodic protection training and certification at an evening meeting. This is an important document that extends the remit of the current BS EN 15257 to draw in NACE influenced areas. There are a number of changes that need to be highlighted, along with the Institute of Corrosion’s programme for rolling the new scheme out.
On 4 October the Branch will be supporting Salford University in the one day ‘hackathon’ on Lean Construction. Lean is all about removing waste, be it physical waste, or wasted time, energy and effort in processes (see technical article later in this issue). Salford hope to bring together key people who represent the processes involved in corrosion protection of structures with Highways England. The outcome of the day is aimed at producing a research package, or series of packages, that they can obtain funding for and develop something that is not only academically interesting, but of practical added value to the industry.
