Training courses

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Hi all,

I am working in Saudi Arabia at an oil refinery and we may receive funds to send a Saudi electrical tech on any applicable training courses in the US. The local knowledge of hazardous area regs is relatively limited and I want to suggest some training that applies to this subject. ICan anyone recommend any courses either industrial or college based that could suit? Duration and/or cost is not an issue.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, I would like as in depth as possible to get this guy up to the level of SME to then share with others.

Thanks
 

rbalex

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The NFPA occasionally conducts such courses although not particularly frequently. I have never seen any such college courses. The NFPA courses are not bad but will not raise anyone to a SME level.
 
Thanks Bob I will look into that. I have found some offerings from this company https://www.atec.global that looks very similar to the ATEX Compex course available in the UK. I'm not sure if it will be comprehensive enough. How would an electrician in the US go about becoming an inspector of hazardous area Installations?
 
CompEx is probably the closest program to what you want. It covers equipment selection, installation and inspection, but AFAIK it doesn't cover how to classify areas. Several European providers offer CompEx; they may be more focused on European requirements. CompEx requires retraining / re-certification every few years.

Intertek runs CompEx for North American users; I know one of the tutors. Not sure how it differs from European CompEx since I've not scored a copy of the notes.

Certification agencies (UL, CSA, Intertek, etc.) sometimes run seminars. These will be general in nature and may not cover all that you want. They are usually pretty lacking in technical detail, but can still be useful building blocks. Here's the offering from MET Labs.

There are various private companies that may have useful courses. Engworks (Canada) has/had a course on area classification; Source IEx has courses more focused on installation and fieldwork; Spark Institute and Engenuics have courses focused towards instrument design and certification. They are all taught by industry experts with extensive hands-on experience in their respective specialties (personal experience here). They can all also cover the "Fundamentals" courses offered by the major agencies, eliminating the need to go to multiple providers.

Private companies may also be able to do specific training on an hourly basis, per their individual expertise. This could be useful for filling in gaps that conventional courses do not cover. This can be especially useful for lesser-used protection types such as purge/pressurization, or special topics such as refineries or offshore.

I've not seen any college / university courses on the topic, and I've looked.

Aside from CompEx, none of these are accredited by anyone.
 

RJJ

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Location
Houston, Texas
CompEx is probably the closest program to what you want. It covers equipment selection, installation and inspection, but AFAIK it doesn't cover how to classify areas. Several European providers offer CompEx; they may be more focused on European requirements. CompEx requires retraining / re-certification every few years.

Intertek runs CompEx for North American users; I know one of the tutors. Not sure how it differs from European CompEx since I've not scored a copy of the notes.

Certification agencies (UL, CSA, Intertek, etc.) sometimes run seminars. These will be general in nature and may not cover all that you want. They are usually pretty lacking in technical detail, but can still be useful building blocks. Here's the offering from MET Labs.

There are various private companies that may have useful courses. Engworks (Canada) has/had a course on area classification; Source IEx has courses more focused on installation and fieldwork; Spark Institute and Engenuics have courses focused towards instrument design and certification. They are all taught by industry experts with extensive hands-on experience in their respective specialties (personal experience here). They can all also cover the "Fundamentals" courses offered by the major agencies, eliminating the need to go to multiple providers.

Private companies may also be able to do specific training on an hourly basis, per their individual expertise. This could be useful for filling in gaps that conventional courses do not cover. This can be especially useful for lesser-used protection types such as purge/pressurization, or special topics such as refineries or offshore.

I've not seen any college / university courses on the topic, and I've looked.

Aside from CompEx, none of these are accredited by anyone.

Hi there, I was intrigued when I came across your message, esp since you said you know one of the North America CompEx instructorsat Intertek. I am thinking of taking the IECEx Ex 001 to Ex 004 training courses. I am familiar with the theory of hazardous areas, however wouldn't mind a refresher. What I am really interested in learning is the hands on field installation parts, like how to properly install Ex cable glands and Ex connectors (such as the one made by Hawke).Do you know if the CompEx course covers the installation aspects of hazardous area sufficiently?

Thanks,
RJ
 
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