Utility Week Live

20 Pan-Utility/Content & context There's something in the T he practicalities of protecting staff working in confi ned spaces is a perennial challenge for health and safety regulators and professionals across sectors. And within the confi nes of confi ned space concerns, air quality one of the hardest to account for. "You could talk about harnesses, ladders and going into fl ooded pits but we're going to talk about the air quality, making sure that the air is safe to breathe," says Leigh Greenham, director of trade association Council of Gas Detection & Environmental Monitoring, and chair of the gas detection and analysis in confi ned spaces session in the pan-utility theatre on day three of Utility Week Live. Atmospheric monitoring in confi ned spaces has recently come to the fore thanks the introduction of the Health and Safety Are utilities ready to be moving targets or sitting ducks as technology and data proliferation cause cyber threats to mount? Cyber security hit the headlines last year when fi lm studio Sony Pictures was hacked as it was about to launch its satirical movie The Interview. North Korean outrage, accusationand counter accusations about who was responsible gripped the world and almost paralysed Sony for some time. But could the utilities sector manage if a similar threat was posed to UK infrastructure? Increasingly, technology is playing a vital role in infrastructure, exposing businesses to a whole new range of threats which require new skills and knowledge to respond to. The need to increase the pipeline of cyber security skills in the UK is a topic the Institution of Engineering and Technology's Dr Richard Piggin has spoken out on before and at Utility Week Live he will address the particular risks and requirements of utilities, faced as they are with the combined issues of aging workforce and infrastructure. Piggin, will suggest where utilities can look for best practice in data security and leadership in exploiting the promise of a data rich world while avoiding its pitfalls. Giving a pragmatic perspective from within the industry, UKPN IT security manager Paul Jenkinson will follow Piggin at the podium. We are challenging innovators, both big and small, to sit round the table with us and develop ideas to improve every aspect of our water cycle." Steve Kaye, Steve Kaye, head of innovation. Anglian Water Not only do CMHPs [common mental health problems] account for a large proportion of absences, they also result in presenteeism – where people turn up for work despite being sick." John McCaul, chief medical offi cer, npower Executive's newly approved code of practice for confi ned space entry. The new guidance, issued in December 2014, will be outlined by JMS principal consultant Jeff Regan, and helps with assessing the risk of working within a particular confi ned space and the precautions that should be put in place for work to be carried out safely. The practicalities of using instruments, the choices and innovations that will make confi ned space entry easier will be the subject of Greenham's presentation. "Most industries somewhere or other are going to have space where there could be a gas risk which is unventilated and would be classed as a confi ned space. It might be a cellar room where they store gas bottles. Even a pub cellar, which is a working environment, can be a confi ned space." Wrapping up the seminar content on this topic, GMI product manager Ken McDermott, will discuss an innovative gas monitoring development it has introduced in partnership with Scotia Gas. Greenham explains: "When they dig a hole in the road to do some work on a gas pipe there's a gas leak potential. But then there's carbon monoxide from fumes and hydrogen sulphide from stagnant water and a lack of oxygen. They've got a specifi c requirement which instruments at the moment don't necessarily meet." "In a nutshell," Greenham sums up, "we're trying to cover a lot of ground in this session. We aim to advise managers and workers about the rules; to meet the rules practically; and how they can do something special if they've got special requirements that the rules don't cover," concludes Greenham. speakers the future A population of 35 million people by 2035 and a 43% increase in traffi c by Se uring streetworks will add to the challenges for

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