Cambs Compressors Newsletter Spring 2023

www.cambscompressors.co.uk High pressure breathing compressed air for fire fighters HSE Compressed Air Risks Identified What does Compressed Air have to do with Mother’s Day? Pure compressed air for self-contained breathing apparatus RAF Lakenheath houses the 48th Fighter Wing, with its operations, medical, maintenance and mission support groups. The military base is run and operated by the US Air Force, it exclusively hosts American troops. The 48th CES firefighters train routinely to remain proficient in their response to emergencies. Cambs Compressors supply and maintain breathing air compressors for the 48th CES fire fighters. This produces pure clean breathing air for use in their self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). The reason firefighters work with compressed air and not oxygen in their tanks is because oxygen tanks could explode in a fire. RAF Lakenheath is located in Suffolk, and the installation is a co-base run by the Americans under the British regulations and laws. It’s also referred to as the Liberty Wing, and was first activated on site in 1952. It represents one of the longest lasting units in the Air Force, serving in the area for almost 60 years. The wing counts almost 8000 individuals. About 2000 of them are British civilians and family members, while almost 6000 are active military troops. The importance of breathing air quality, testing, regulations and standards Regular maintenance and quality testing of compressed air for breathing is essential. There are various factors that can affect the quality and safety of compressed air for breathing. All employers have a duty of care to their employees to ensure that the breathing air they are supplied with is adequate for the respiratory protective devices (RPD) they are using and are safe to breathe. High pressure breathing compressed air Whilst up to a 3 month periodicity for testing may be suitable for low pressure breathing- air systems, further consideration should be given to high pressure compressors where the life of filter elements are normally much shorter, typically 50 hours for a HP filter cartridge and this is reduced further in high ambient temperatures. If you get flowers from a UK retailer, the likelihood is they came from a Cambs Compressors client. Compressed air is used in virtually every manufacturing process You may not think of floristry as a manufacturing process, but you’d be wrong. Our clients’ business sources its raw materials, flowers, from the world’s most sustainable growers - growers with strong ethical and environmental credentials. Their relationship is direct, with no middle men or agents, so their relationship is focused on quality and supply chain development. The volume of product is vast, and the processing of the raw flowers into the retail presentations required for the leading UK and European retailers is unimaginable. Compressed air is used in the processing and packaging Whatever the manual process may be in a village florist, the likelihood is there is a compressed air ‘industrialised’ equivalent process. A process that will provide the scale and speed required by a super floristry business. A system which is capable of supporting the huge manufacturing peaks in demands of Valentines Day and Mothers Day across the UK and Europe. A system which needs designing, installing, supporting - and that’s where Cambs Compressors come in. Most manufacturing facilities have a steady growth and can predict their peaks in demand. When designing this facilities infrastructure, the key requirement was the ability to flex with demand. Cambs Compressors expertise helped close out HSE intervention Compressed air is one of the safest energy transfer mediums in industry, which is why it’s so prevalent. So when an HSE compliance visit highlighted concerns, Cambs Compressors were called in to help. The major issues were of noise levels and although ear defenders could have been issued, the client wanted to explore other solutions. Cambs Engineering team developed a solution to reduce noise levels Working with the customer to eradicate the risks identified, Cambs Compressors first wanted to understand the processes involved and the engineering team showed how the specific issues could be mitigated. They were able to provide proper safety measures and detail air compressor precautions to avoid exposure to potentially harmful noise. When a client had an HSE compliance visit they were left with an intervention and time limit to close out the issues identified. Craig Turner Cambs Compressors Service Manager RAF Lakenheath