Fall 2013 Issue

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE UPDATE

The MCA Executive Committee met in Chicago on October 20, 2013. Some of the topics which were discussed are outlined in the sections below. If you wish more detail on these issues contact either your sectional representative or the MCA secretary.

NFPA UPDATE

The Electronic Marine Chemist Certificate (EMCC) program has about 50 users and the requests for computers and printers has dropped off. It appears all chemists who wish to use the program have the computers and printers in their possession. The program appears to be going well and the main issues are with the printers. A problem with the monthly syncing to the server has been reported and a presentation at the sectional seminars will cover this and other issues with the program. In all it has been a great success.

Copies of NFPA 306, 2014 edition have been mailed to all chemists and trainees. Also, the latest edition of NFPA 51B (Standard for the Prevention of Fire during Welding, Cutting and Hot Work) will also be mailed to all chemist’s this year. Electronic copies will be placed on the Marine Chemist web portal on the NFPA website. You can download them to your own desktop. There is a wealth of information for the chemist here. You can access it through the link in our MCA website (www.marinechemist.org) or through the NFPA site (https://portal.nfpa.org/MC/default.aspx). Remember, you must use your password previously provided to you by NFPA to access these documents.

Our monthly reports can now be done electronically and paper reports no longer have to be submitted. You can access the electronic file two ways. It is located on the MCA website under the Forms tab or on the NFPA Marine Chemist portal. Access to both of these locations are listed above. If you use the form on the MCA site a link to automatically submit the form to NFPA does not work. If you use the NFPA site you must configure the link to your email provider to automatically submit it. If you use the form on the MCA site you can save it to your desktop and send it as an email attachment. You must also attach a copy of either a paper certificate or a PDF of an electronic certificate. You will need to print out a copy and submit it with the quarterly payment you send in the Gas Hazards Control Program. Hopefully, this will be a time saver for the chemists, especially those using the EMCC program.

MCQB

The MCQB is scheduled to meet October 22. Reports from the meeting included two items of note. First, the board certified Brent Campbell CMC 724. Brent was trained by Dave Bennett CMC 681and will work in the Jacksonville, FL. area.

Secondly the USCG reported to the MCQB that there were seriously considering implementing a policy which would allow their inspectors to enter spaces without having a Marine Chemist certify the space first. Your executive board is looking into this issue and will attempt to provide information on the merits of using a certified chemist prior to any entry. John Edgar CMC 686 has been especially helpful in providing the board with information to rebut this decision.

Finally, there was a discussion on the time required to conduct a quality competent person course. While the board has no jurisdiction on this issue, the general consensus was a minimum was between 16 to 32 hours.

SECTIONAL SEMINARS

The board set the dates and topics for the 2014 sectional seminars. The dates are as follows;

Gulf-Inland Section

Houston International Airport – March 8th

Executive Board Meeting – March 9th

Atlantic Section

Atlanta, GA – March 15th

Pacific Section

Portland, OR. March 16th

Hotels are currently being negotiated. Once the hotels are finalized a notice will be sent out on the allcmc email. Also, a registration form will be posted on the website.

Topics

306 Updates

Certificate Critique Exercise

The Maintenance of Conditions on a Certificate and when a SCP can Allow Entry

Accidents and Investigations

EMCC Program update, Tips and Tricks, Please bring your computer