Standardisation (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation (CENELC), EN Standards still apply to the UK despite Brexit. This seems a logical move because if it became a requirement for British standards to move away from European equivalents this could turn into a neverending task, with literally thousands of standards being involved. Also, if the UK were to stop contributing funding to CEM that would equate to quite a substantial financial shortfall in some subject areas. The CEN working group that I am the Secretariat for is run by UK Convenor, Graham Miller. Countries represented in this group include Germany and France, and the group continues to function in much the same way as it did before Brexit. New Standards development and procedure In terms of areas of discussion, anyone can propose a new project. If the consensus is to move the new project forward things move to a phase where committee drafts and technical reports and specifications are produced. Then, once standards are published, they automatically come up for a systematic review every five years. This involves a voting process whereby it is determined whether to review or leave the standard unchanged. If it is decided to make changes, then a project to review is established. In terms of the discussion meetings, these function in much the same way regardless of whether they are CEN, ISO or nationally based. Essentially, we discuss either open projects to provide updates regarding a project’s status or decide by vote whether to move a new project forward. Everything is scheduled in detail beforehand so during the meetings have a clear agenda to follow. The CEN working groups tend to be small and are always conducted virtually, with Graham Miller and I using Zoom to talk with participants in Germany and France. These meetings usually take place every two or three months, although if there is a project that needs more immediate attention among all participants then we can usually arrange a meeting within a short timeframe. The national committees generally meet twice a year, in the Spring and Autumn. Again, most of these meetings take place virtually but I am encouraging participants to have at least one virtual and one hybrid meeting. The number of participants involved in the national committees can vary depending on the input requirements of each committee. Some comprise six or seven members from relevant companies, others can involve up to 14. I compile the agenda and take minutes, I then follow up any actions with the relevant people following the meeting closure.. If for any reason no one from our committee can attend the international meetings, I will look to attend and bring information back to the national group. My history Just to provide a little background, prior to joining the BFPA I worked for a housing association as part of a new business start-up. One of my key roles was to work alongside the Operations Manager to mobilise a full fleet of engineers across the country from 24 www.bfpa.co.uk
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ0NzM=