Burnley-based electrical contractor and facilities management provider QUEST Ltd now qualified qualified to adhere to DSEAR and Atex regulations

QUEST engineers are now all CompEx qualified, CompEx is the international scheme for the competency and certification of personnel who work in explosive atmospheres.

The qualifications mean that QUEST engineers can now operate efficiently and effectively in any of their customers’ facilities.

Dominic Miller, Technical Director at QUEST, said: “Our customers were telling us how time-consuming and expensive it was sourcing specialist engineers and we decided that this was an opportunity to demonstrate that QUEST offers a genuine one-stop-shop.”

The CompEx certification ensures that engineers are qualified to adhere to DSEAR and Atex regulations.

DSEAR, which stands for the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002, aims to prevent, or limit the harmful effects of fire, explosion, and similar energy-releasing events, as well as corrosion to metals.

DSEAR requires that employers must identify which dangerous substances are present in their workplace and the associated risks. Control measures must be put in place to either remove those risks or, where not possible to control them, furthermore, to identify and classify areas of the workplace where explosive atmospheres may occur and to avoid ignition sources (from unprotected equipment, for example) in those areas.

ATEX is an initialism of the term ATmosphères EXplosibles (French for "explosive atmospheres"). ATEX zones are areas in which there is a risk of explosion due to the presence of flammable gases, vapours, or dust.

Demand for these services has grown in recent years and many manufacturing and large food production facilities require these qualifications.

QUEST is already accredited by NICEIC, CompEx and SafeContractor.