Name / Henrik Weldingh / Session / 6
Company / DEFU a.m.b.a / Block / 2
Address / Rosenørns Allé 9 / Question n° / (12) Paper presentation
DK-1970 Frederikberg C Denmark / Language used on the floor / English
Phone / +4535300774 / Accompanying visuals on file
WELDINGH_DK_AUTHOR_6.2_12.PPT
e-mail /
Impact of the deregulation on the safety for personnel
#1
My name is Henrik Weldingh; I work at DEFU, a small research company owned by the Danish power companies. I am involved in the work with electrical safety matters in the Danish Electricity Council, which is the legal authority in this field. I am chairman of the network Committee.
We have prepared a contribution on the safety aspects of deregulation.
The Safety consequences of this process has in general been obscured first by the business aspects, and next, perhaps, by considerations for quality of supply.
#2
The Danish electricity sector is by now fully deregulated. The legal work is done, the laws are in force, all consumers are free to choose a supplier of electrical energy, and the unbundling of the sector is completed. That does not mean, that the sector has found its final form, all kind of mergers etc. goes on all the time, and is likely to do that for some time yet.
Economical efficiency is in focus
#3.
The network operators, who are natural monopolies, are placed under strong cost-incentive regulations, through a benchmark process, with a steady demand for an increase of the economical efficiency i.e. cost reductions.
By the method used for the benchmarking in Denmark, the result is strongly influenced by already made investments. For most companies that leave in reality only two possibilities for a better position in the benchmarkprocess:
-Stop for all investment in the network, unless unavoidable due to the short-term consequences.
-Considerable reductions in staff.
Clearly this, in combination with new operators, outsourcings etc., might lead to a decrease in the level of the supply quality.
The regulator is by now beginning to consider if and how economical incentives can be establish to counteract such a decrease, but nothing is likely to be in action until well into 2004.
#4
The pessimistic scenario could thus be one, where poorly maintained equipment, lack of experienced staff, confusion in areas of responsibility etc. leads to a decrease in the supply quality.
And the next question arrives: Will it even lead to a decrease in the general safety level?
#5
This scenario prompted the Electricity Council to establish a survey to confirm or deny this.
It was conducted in the middle of the turmoil, and gave few clear answers.
#6
Except that
-much concern - but no proof of any decline in the safety level, or in the attitudes concerning safety aspects.
-But it was evident, that the liberalisation process, as it is established in Denmark, has some build-in mechanisms, which may lead to a decrease in the level of safety.
Realising that, the council decided to initiate three different actions:
#7
-Tighten the inspections of the power companies
-Get access to the statistical information from the companies, especially the network operators, on faults and incidents in the network.
-Establish a quality assurance system as a part of the legal conditions for the power companies.
#8
The Electricity Council has always inspected power plants and network operators.
It was however decided to change these inspections, to tighten them and during the inspections to focus on safety procedures, maintenance and documentation.
It was also decided to change the report system in a way which facilitates a systematically treatment of the findings from the inspections.
#9
The observations are allocated to one of three categories according to safety risks of the observed.
And in two classes if it is connected with equipment or with the operation
#10
As an example, will a lack of a barrier in front of a live part be classified as Category 1, that is a fault which represents an immediate safety risk, and class A, connected with the materiel.
Poorly maintained material will be classified as either category 1, 2 or 3, dependent of the circumstances, and class B, to do with operation.
#11
This system has been in operation for more that a half-year, it has proved useful, but of course no trends can be seen yet.
#12
The Electricity Council receives information on (in principle all) accidents in Denmark with electricity and prepares statistics based on this information. Any trends caused by the liberalisation process will eventually be visible here. Only incidents of some seriousness appears here, and it is the hope that we through more sensitive observations can see any trend in time for the establishment of preventive actions.
It is a likely, but by no means proven fact, that any change in habits, attitude and possibilities will be apparent first as a change in the quality of supply. - So it would be sensible to look for any signs of that.
The relation to safety could be connected with what traditionally is the implicit priority of the utilities:
safety for personnel
security of the material
reliability of supply
One could fear, that this might change, especially if economical incentives for the reliability of supply come to force.
In any case, it is likely that safety and reliability of supply are connected.
#13
The power companies in Denmark have for many years reported faults and incidents in the network to a common statistical database.
The council was granted access to this material for the medium voltage network, in an anonymous form. This material covers more than 80 % of the medium- voltage network.
It is the plan to use the results from the last 10 years as a kind of base, and se any trends in the years to come in relation to this.
#14
To illustrate the type of information we get access to, this graph shows the total number of faults in the medium voltage network. In 199 we had a serious storm, the blue curve includes the number of faults caused by this, the red is without this.
It must be noted, that the report-system was changed somewhat 4 years ago, and also that the proportion of the network covered by this statistic is increased through the period.
#15
The material contains information of causes of the incidents; this diagram shows the relative number of faults caused by age, wear or poor maintenance.
#16
And this shows the relative number of incidents caused by faulty operations.
The statistic is updated once every year, so the first year where we can try to spot changes will be in 2004.
#17
The final measure initiated is the establishment of a quality assurance system. The system will be a part of the Danish Heavy regulation, the regulation that governs electrical equipment, safety measures and operations for the power companies.
The idea of a quality assurance system is based on experiences with regulations of the low-voltage installation area, where a similar system has been in operation for some years with good effect.
It defines the company or the owner’s obligations:
To establish, implement and maintain the QA-system
To nominate a person for the control of the installation
To provide the nominated person with sufficient power and means.
The nominated person in turn is responsible
for the use of the system
for the safety procedures.
One important implication of this system is that the owner must define and document the procedures for the maintenance of the equipment.
The quality assurance system shall be audited, both internal and external.
#18
The system has been established as a pilot project this year,
and is thought to be in operation by 2004
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