Imagine you’re in a theatre, watching a concert and suddenly a spotlight crashes to the stage. What if you’re working at a mine site and the cage you’re about to take underground plummets down the shaft? Such an event would be potentially catastrophic but luckily they’re very rare. That’s because good design, construction and operation minimises the chance of them happening.
Electronic safety systems protect us from a range of dangerous events such as moving machinery, fire, explosion and falling objects. Specialist functional safety advice is crucial when installing potentially hazardous equipment like winders, turbines and battery energy storage systems.
Engineering and environmental consultancy Advitech has been providing Functional Safety assessments for over 15 years, offering independent expert advice to clients across sectors including mining, performance venues and transport. The Functional Safety team is currently in the process of beefing up its capability and ensuring its ongoing skills development.
Experienced Senior Engineer, Alan Cross, has just been appointed Risk and Functional Safety Group Leader. Alan has a wealth of experience in engineering and risk management, having worked in the mining industry for many years in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, and Queensland. Alan moved to Newcastle three years ago to join Advitech and during that time has gained valuable experience in a broad range of functional safety contexts.
The Risk and Functional Safety Team has international certification from TÜV Rheinland (Germany) as well qualifications as Chartered Professional Engineers (CPEng) and Registered Professional Engineers in Queensland (RPEQ).
Alan and the team adopt a collegiate approach to their work, collaborating on projects and sharing their knowledge and experience.
“Each of us contributes something different to the team’s overall skillset and with each new project we expand our knowledge and skills to apply to future work,” said Alan.
Alan is keen for Advitech to continue to expand its support of functional safety over the whole ‘safety lifecycle’. Advitech can work closely with clients to help their business develop the tools necessary to maintain functional safety equipment for the duration of its life, well beyond implementation and commissioning.
Another emerging area of specialisation of Advitech has the Risk and Functional Safety team working alongside Process Engineering colleagues. With their combined skills they can assess and advise on combined electrical and chemical systems such as large-scale battery installations for renewable energy transitions.
As an independent verifier, the Functional Safety team works with Original Equipment Manufacturers and end-user clients to ensure safety systems are compliant with all applicable codes and standards and are operating to specifications.
Contact our team to discuss your organisation’s functional safety requirements to give you peace of mind that you’re doing everything to keep your employees, visitors and patrons safe.
