Simtars (Safety in Mines Testing and Research Station) will be promoting its testing, auditing and certification services on Stand B1106 during AIMEX 2007 – Asia Pacific’s International Mining Exhibition, to be held at Sydney’s Olympic Park from September 4 to 7, 2007.
Simtars laboratory services provide commercial services to a wide range of general industry in occupational hygiene, environment and chemistry, engineering, testing and certification, safety and training, and mining research development.
Simtars, a business unit within the Queensland Department of Mines and Energy, is certified by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) and is also an accepted certification body in the internationally recognised IECEx certification scheme (the International Electro-technical Commission scheme for certification of explosion protected equipment).
The IECEx recognition enables Simtars to not only test explosion protected equipment but to also carry out certification and audits of facilities wanting to do overhaul and rebuild work on equipment destined for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.
This allows Simtars to certify a workshop by verifying the competency of the personnel, the suitability of processes and the adequacy of facilities.
The certified overhaul and repair facility is subject to ongoing surveillance audits to ensure that the facility maintains compliance with the IECEx scheme requirements.
IECEx certification as a service facility ensures that overhauled or repaired equipment is returned to the original condition as per equipment certification - a crucial requirement for equipment operating in potentially explosive atmospheres.
Simtars certification gives confidence to the industry that overhaul and repair work is carried out to well defined Standards.