Brian Wall

Features

Greener concrete

With many concrete mixes substituting portland cement (PC) for other cementitious materials, such as fly ash and ground granulated blast-furnace slag to reduce their carbon footprint, are we entering...

Construction
Features

Discharging your duties - chemical effluent sensors

Chemical sensors can highlight potential risks with discharged water and whether environmental standards are being met. How do these technologies work in practice and what are their limitations? By...

Water Treatment
Features

Pandemic sparks RIDDOR surge

Reporting of COVID-19 incidences to enforcing authorities have been accelerating, even when these were not work-related and so not reportable, reports Brian Wall

RIDDOR
Features

Step change at Blackpool Tower

Blackpool Tower’s 126-year-old external staircase is to be removed as part of a wider renovation project. A decision on how the staircase will be replaced is being evaluated. By Brian Wall

Protective Coatings
Features

Isolation and tag-out procedures

Equipment that is offline for maintenance must be properly isolated from power, water, air and other sources to protect the safety of the people working on it, as well as the integrity of the process...

Machine Safety/Protection
Features

Isolation and tag-out procedures

Equipment that is offline for maintenance must be properly isolated from power, water, air and other sources to protect the safety of the people working on it, as well as the integrity of the process...

RIDDOR
Features

Retrofitting motion controls in commercial building lighting

Retrofitting workplace spaces with motion-controlled lighting conserves power and helps slash energy costs. But can you keep the existing lights or is it a matter of ‘rip and replace’? By Brian Wall

Lighting
Features

Deep-dive drives

Intelligent drives are coming to operational equipment. Smart and networked controls can help to transform the landscape of engineers who have previously only dealt with local control of motors and...

Drives
Features

Portable industrial vacuums: powering up

Industrial vacuums pack a powerful punch. They will clear up dry and wet waste at factory scale, yet are small enough to be wheeled around a site on a cart or by forklift. By Brian Wall

Vacuum Pumps/Pipes
Features

Water leaks and the ‘jaws of death’

Water demand in the UK will exceed supply in just 25 years, the head of the Environment Agency has warned – with part of the blame falling on leaking pipework. What can be done to avert this? By Brian...

Flow Measurement
Features

Bouncing back from Buncefield

Almost 15 years on from the Buncefield disaster, Operations Engineer looks back at what went wrong, why and the steps taken to try to ensure such an incident never happens again

Fire Protection
Features

Electric motors shake-up

A radical overhaul of the regulation governing electric motors is forecast to bring big cost savings for industry, along with a significant reduction in environmental impact

Motors