Stack testing under EXAMINATION
15 Jan 2000
MCERTS are growing as Roger Brownlie discovered while talking to John Tipping of the Environment Agency. Not only will manual stack testers have to conform to strict standards, but operators too. And then there are new data standards, ambient monitoring standards.
Just as you thought your emissions testing equipment was up to scratch, along came another set of proposals from the Environment Agency. MCERTS, which was launched in April 1998, initially focused on continuous stack emission monitoring but is growing to become an all-embracing compliance standard. Comments on proposals to extend MCERTS to cover manual stack monitoring organisations should have been made by the beginning of this month. If you missed it read on.
Manual stack emission monitoring is most often used where continuous emission monitoring systems are not available or inappropriate for cost or technical reasons.
John Tipping, monitoring strategy manager for the EA explains further: `Manual stack testing is a key element of regulation on two counts. In terms of supporting continuous emission monitoring, you need to use manual stack testing to calibrate it. If it is calibrated incorrectly the data is flawed. Secondly, where there are not continuous monitors for some pollutants we are interested in, then only manual methods are available.'
`Everybody recognises with manual stack testing that the quality of the work done in this country is variable from very good to very poor. It's difficult to separate the people providing the good quality service from the people providing the not so good. The market tends to be driven by price rather than anything else so there's a temptation to cut corners.'
Organisations will gain recognition by committing to ethical requirements, pre-monitoring preparation, guidelines and protocols, safety and risk assessment, equipment, quality assurance and proficiency testing.
Personnel will gain certification through formal training schemes involving assessment of on-site skills and theory exams.
`We want to provide a system that effectively elevates the role of the stack tester from a fairly low position, where just about anyone can set themselves up as a stack tester, to one that does have a certain degree of professional standing with NVQs and there is a recognised system of training and building of experience leading to qualification.
`We intend three levels of attainment for a stack tester: from trainee to someone who is very accomplished with a significant degree of knowledge of the reasons why legislation is driving testing - team member to team leader through to being a project leader.'
To progress beyond level one, a technician must achieve endorsements covering the following areas: particulates, combustion and acid gases, organic compounds, trace organic micro-pollutants and metals. Competency Certificates may then be issued by Sira Certification Services which has been appointed to manage MCERT certification.
Following feedback, there will be 15 months of development leading to implementation by 2001. However, the EA is planning further performance standards for stack operators.
`If for example you have a certified instrument,' explains Tipping, `but you install it in the wrong place on a stack, your results are going to be somewhat dubious. There is a responsibility on the operator to also undertake and deliver.'
`Finally looking at the data side,' concludes Tipping, `the EA wants to put performance standards on how we treat all the data that comes out of the continuous monitors and make sure that it is handled correctly, the arithmetic is done correctly, the safeguards are in place in terms of archiving and data security, and the results are presented in a form that everybody is happy with.'
The Environment Agency is due to present to CEM 99 at Warwick University, giving an update on ambient air monitoring under MCERTS. A draft consultation document is in its final stages of preparation. PE
