DSS221: Fake ATEX Product and Certificate Follow up with Terry McDonald

In today’s episode of the Dust Safety Science podcast, Terry McDonald, Sales and Business Development Manager with Thorne and Derrick based out of the UK, returns for another discussion about fake ATEX products and certificates.

In Episode #216, Terry talked about how combustible dust is treated within the ATEX framework, how ATEX product certification is supposed to work, and how fake ATEX products and certificates make it into the market. He closed out the interview by mentioning that he would be presenting on this topic at the HazardEx Conference. Today he reviews what he shared and covered at this event.

Ente Certificazione Macchine- an Overview

Terry said that since his last appearance on the podcast, he received information about Ente Certificazione Macchine (ECM), the notified body based in Italy. They have a section on their website for fraudulent certificates that they know about.

“ECM is a notified body and can test conformity assessment to several different standards, not just the ATEX Directive,” he said. “So there were probably hundreds if not thousands of fraudulent certificates out there in the global marketplace. But when you extract the ATEX-specific certificates, there were 37 certificates that were out in the marketplace.”

There are approximately 77 notified bodies in Europe that can test for conformity to the ATEX equipment directive. If there are (for example) 37 certificates for every notified body, there are up to 3000 potential certificates in the marketplace. If each certificate sold 100 products, there would be 300,000 potential products on the market. However, if you multiply that number by 1000 products for every certificate, you’re potentially talking about three million products.

“It was an eye-opener to have hard evidence of this fake equipment,” Terry said. “I’ve had lots of people reach out to me and give me examples of not just fake equipment but also fake competency certificates, fake and out-of-date QAN documents and QAR documents. Very few people were prepared to name and shame the companies for fear of litigation or legal proceedings. But all the information is publicly available on ECM’s website.”

Who Are the Various Stakeholders Involved?

Terry emphasized that there are different stakeholders in the industry. They include but are not limited to EPCs, contractors, distributors, and resellers.

“There was a gentleman in the audience from SBM Offshore,” he recalled. He came to me at the end of the presentation and had a chat. Whilst all of the discussion centered around ATEX and European directives, SBM don’t actually have any of their vessels operating in European waters, so they have to adhere to whatever directive wherever the ship is originally built or where it’s destined for.

“He really concurred that it was a huge issue, as he had seen some horrendous problems and installations. He said that he was inspecting some equipment on one of the vessels and there were half a dozen junction boxes all next to each other. All looked different. They were all GRP and they were all certified as ExD flame-proof II-C to Hydrogen and T6, although it was obvious that they could not possibly be. The manufacturer had apparently taken upon themselves to label the junction boxes all with the same certification EPR markings, making it fake equipment.”

He recalled Thorne and Derrick have been contacted at least three times in the past year by a mobile phone company about selling their mobile phones and being their distributor in the UK. Somebody in the audience put their hand up and said they’ve encountered this company several times and know it sells mobile phones with fraudulent certificates. However, others are believing what this company tells them.

What’s the Solution to Fake ATEX Products and Certificates?

“It might be a controversial statement to some people, but I think there’s a quicker route to fix the problem,” Terry said. “It would be to abolish ATEX and adopt IECEx -the international standard- as our accepted standard. The system already exists. We don’t need to create a new database. A lot of the better manufacturers and the international manufacturers tend to have dual certification anyway (ATEX and IECEx) and perhaps other certificates depending on the regions of the world where they’re selling.”

He also recommended a scheme that proves competence. The UK has a CompEx scheme for people who work in hazardous areas and carry out installation and commissioning work. In order to perform certain works in the hazardous area, someone must go through this training and receive a certificate from CompEx at the end.

“I think that should be extended to companies like Thorne and Derrick and the supply chain so that we can go and carry out the training if necessary, and we can then prove our competency by having the certificates to back that up.”

He added that these competency levels should also apply to those who purchase equipment.

“Honestly, we receive phone calls from customers wanting to buy hazardous area equipment and they really don’t have a clue what a hazardous area is. They just follow instructions to go out and find a piece of equipment. You ask them, “Does it need to be certified for Zone 1 or Zone 2 or 21 or 22? Is it a gas or a dust atmosphere?” They don’t have a clue or don’t understand what they are purchasing.”

Conclusion

At the end of his HazardEx presentation, Terry said he was asked how to report fake certificates.

“I had to be honest and say, ‘I don’t know.’ Yeah, I don’t actually know the right channels to go through to report a fake certificate. And obviously those channels will be different here in the UK and obviously different everywhere else in the world, which again makes communication difficult. I’d just like to thank [Dust Safety Science] for asking me back on and giving me another chance to spread awareness on the topic, and hopefully other people listening can help and continue.”

If you would like to discuss further, leave your thoughts in the comments section below. You can also reach Terry McDonald directly:

Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrterrymcdonald/
Website: https://www.thorneandderrick.com/

If you have questions about the contents of this or any other podcast episode, you can go to our ‘Questions from the Community’ page and submit a text message or video recording. We will then bring someone on to answer these questions in a future episode.