"We work with standards to ensure safety, cost efficiency and quality."
Last updated:
14/3/2024
.webp)
In the world of natural gas, standards have been used since time immemorial. For Alain Dragon, Engineering Studies Manager at Fluxys, standards are an integral part of daily operations. "The main reasons for working with standards? Safety, cost efficiency and quality," says Alain without hesitation.
"At Fluxys, I am responsible for the domain expertise and standardization team. My team has two major assignments. On the one hand, they make the material specifications for all the material we need for our installations. On the other hand, they try to standardize internally all the functionalities that recur regularly. These internal standards are constantly evolving under the impetus of legislation, standards and technology. We within Fluxys are the custodians of those standards."
Alain: "Standards are of crucial importance here. The natural gas world has been around for a very long time, which is precisely why there are already so many standards in existence. As an organisation, it goes without saying that we should follow those standards. Why? They guarantee quality, safety and reliability. Standards only get better with time. Those we've been using for years have been systematically improved thanks to the experience the industry has gained. A standard evolves and becomes better, more complete, and safer with time. There's no point trying to reinvent the wheel. Using standards is a sure-fire way to get a high-quality result."
Alain: "Standards are used very widely across our organisation. We turn to them when we're setting up new working methods and procedures, such as for our safety management system (EN 16348). We're a technical company, so standards also guide us in all the technical aspects of the various stages of our installations. This ranges from design, construction, commissioning, and operation, to decommissioning (e.g. the EN 1594 family of standards). Standards are also our guide for obtaining all kinds of certifications (e.g. ISO 9001, VCA, or ISO 17020)."
Alain: "The use of standards is spread throughout our entire organisation. I am thinking primarily of all people with a technical background. But colleagues with a management profile are also using standards at Fluxys. At what point do they turn to standards? When they introduce new working methods or when certification systems are set up."
Alain: "Having all standards on one platform is an incredible asset. Plus, any employee can access the platform at any time and from any location. It's easy to search our own standards collections and consult the standards we need. We also have access to the NBN Reading Room, which contains nearly 40,000 NBN standards. There, you can purchase new standards and also ask any standards-related questions to the NBN team. I really enjoy working with the NBN and its user-friendly platform. It's light years away from how some foreign standards bodies operate. There, you sometimes still get standards on paper, instead of in pdf. A completely outdated set-up. NBN hasn't missed the digital train, which is great."
Register now for the webinar 'Hassle-free access to standards?'
Managing standards correctly is no easy task. Duplicate purchases, outdated versions, multiple languages. So how can you manage them efficiently, and – above all – in a copyright-compliant way?
To these, and all your other specific questions about standards and standards management, we will be happy to answer you during this free live webinar.
Furthermore, we are also happy to show you the NBN standards platform, to show you that standards management is a breeze with it.
