BFPA takes the lead on new minimum recommendations for the fluid power industry

26 October, 2016

BFPA CEO Chris Buxton commented; “Health and safety is not just about following procedure, it is about awareness and education. An employee with the right skills and training is inherently a safer employee and less likely to breach current health and safety regulations. More importantly, he or she is less likely to injure either themselves or a fellow worker.” It was recognition of this fact, along with the alarming reality that any individual with a set of tools can currently claim to be a technical operative in the fluid power sector, that led members of the BFPA to instigate an Education & Training Task Force. The task in question was to establish what it believes (as the recognised experts in the industry), should be the recommended minimum educational standards for anyone wishing to undertake work on Fluid Power equipment.

In meeting its objective, the task force engaged with a wide range of stakeholders including end users and the accreditation bodies and concluded that separate recommendations should be made for hydraulics and pneumatics technology along with a third portfolio of standards for the increasing use of electronic and systems control technology in fluid power systems. The result will be a suite of three complimentary documents; each targeting one of the three primary areas of technology.

BFPA is pleased to announce the release of the first of these documents;the Minimum Educational Recommendations - Hydraulics. The document, available upon request from the BFPA, provides a platform from which a variety of training courses may be developed by recognised providers around the UK. It is expected that these recommendations may represent the basis for developing a passport scheme for engineers in the sector and perhaps ultimately the foundations for a regulatory framework. Work is now on-going to develop a similar set of recommendations for the pneumatics sector. Electronic systems will follow.

As the trade association for fluid power, BFPA considers this work not only as an aspiration to increase educational and safety standards in the fluid power sector but as a duty to its members and the wider industry.

The full article can be found on our website www.bfpa.co.uk/industry_features.asp or please Email enquiries@bfpa.co.uk if you would like a copy of the new recommendations