TECHNICAL NEWS

Many of you will recognise the name of Bill Osborne as the DTI's noise expert until he left in 1997. Bill has since completed an MSc degree in Acoustics and Noise Control and has set up as a noise consultant. Bill has now agreed to work on a consultancy basis for the FMCEC on various technical issues and we expect his expert input to be of great value to the Federation and its members. He will work with Tim Faithfull to give the specific technical expertise on such issues as noise, vibration and exhaust emission control. Members wishing detailed advice and assistance on noise matters, or with meeting the new requirements, may wish to employ Bill as an independent consultant at a generous discount from his normal fees.

MOBILES MEETING - Meetings of FEM

Section V - the European association for mobile crane manufacturers - will be held during Interrnat in Paris on 18-19 May 2000. Representatives from the UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain will attend separate meetings of the Mobile Crane Technical Committee and the Economic Committee (covering European and worldwide statistics).

Manufacturers and FEM representatives will also attend the 4th International Crane Technical Liaison meeting on 18 May where a full agenda includes important issues from Europe, North America, Japan and Pacific Rim countries. For further information contact Tim Faithfull at the FMCEC.

EXHAUST EMISSIONS

Whilst proposals for Tier 3 of Directive 97/68/EC continue to be discussed, the European Commission has published the first draft of a proposed amendment. This primarily relates to the inclusion of small petrol engine machinery into the scope of the Emissions Directive, but also includes minor changes to the test procedures for compression ignition engines and provisions for replacement engines. The FMCEC has told the DTI that the proposals regarding replacement engines were welcomed and should relate to the date on which the replaced engine was produced/built.

YEAR OF CONSTRUCTION

German manufacturers continue to date stamp machines built from 1 October with the following year, giving them a significant commercial advantage. At its meeting on 20 June 2000, members of the CECE Technical Commission will consider a draft position paper which concludes that a machine should be marked with the year in which it leaves the manufacturing site and must be consistent with the issuance of the Declaration of Conformity to the Machinery Directive 98/37/EC. This conforms with the view of the European Commission and the member states but has not until now been accepted by manufacturers in Germany or their representative organisation, the VDMA.
The Federation has also sought the help of the DTI Action Single Market unit and they have agreed to start bilateral talks with their German counterparts and other authorities.

THE VIBRATIONS RUMBLE ON

The FMCEC's work continues on the proposed Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive - which has huge ramifications for the whole of industry, but particularly for plant equipment, agricultural vehicles and quarry equipment. Although it will affect all machinery used in the workplace, the currently proposed very low vibration limits will severely restrict the way that mobile machines can be used.

The Directive will require employers to make risk assessments of workplace operations and, if necessary, reduce the working day of their operators. This is likely to have considerable financial implications. Exploratory work indicates that on a "typical" day, someone operating a conventional concrete breaker could exceed the daily hand-arm vibration dosage in one hour. Even with modern damped concrete breakers, the daily dose would be exceeded in three and a half hours. The study also shows that an operator using a wheeled loading shovel, skid steer loader and rough terrain dump truck would exceed his daily whole body vibration dose in just under six hours. Once operators exceed the daily vibration dose they are supposed to be re-deployed on low vibration work - if the work is to continue, another operator must be found.

One of the problems for plant equipment is that it is used in a multitude of locations, each with a unique vibration spectrum. The problem is not so great in the factory environment where once a machine is bolted to, the floor one set of measurements will remain constant. However, when wheels are fitted to machines - the combination of usage becomes very large indeed.

The Directive will require OEMs to provide vibration information to users. Unfortunately, there are very few published standards for measuring plant equipment vibration and, even if they existed, they will only on very rare occasions replicate conditions found in the workplace. The Directive encourages purchasers of equipment to buy equipment with low vibration levels.

A joint HSE/FMCEC briefing on the Vibration Directive was held recently in London - and will be reported in the next issue of Newsline.

DTI NOISE TEAM

John Walker, who headed the DTI Directorate responsible for noise policy, has now left on promotion - his replacement is Karen Taylor, who previously worked for Bill Osbome during his stint at the helm. Karen will be ably assisted by Fran Buckle and we hope to see them both at future meetings of the General Technical Committee.