Laying a cable or pipe is just the start – it then has to be sealed in to keep it safe from moisture, the elements and a hostile environment. Mathew Beech reports.

All utility firms make safety a priority. Ensuring staff, customers, and the wider public do not face any danger is of totemic importance to their operations.

Regulators also play their part in ensuring utilities are hitting the highest standards for safety, and often make incremental improvements to safety regulations.

One such change was introduced in 2002, and came into force in June 2006. This was the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations (DSEAR), which is enforced by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE). The legislation puts a duty on employers to protect people from the risks of fire, explosion and the corrosion of metal in the workplace, as well as members of the public who may be put at risk by work activity.

In a world populated by substances that can be very dangerous when mixed together, keeping them apart is vital.

CSD Sealing Systems UK onshore sales manager Phil Westerman tells Utility Week that prior to the new regulations coming into effect, expandable foam was regularly used to seal cabling and piping ducts. “When I joined the company [in 2004], expanding foam was standard across the utility markets. The standards were very low and the expandable foam could deteriorate,” he says.

Westerman says that not only would the foam fail quickly, but that it was not airtight or watertight, so moisture and gas could enter spaces containing electrical equipment. “It doesn’t stop the ingress of gas or water because its porous,” he says.

At best, this could result in the corrosion of assets, such as electrical cables and circuitry, speeding up the wear rate and how soon they would need to be replaced, and increasing the level of expenditure on maintaining or replacing the asset.

At worst, this could allow flammable or explosive gas to ingress into the asset, resulting in a dangerous and potentially fatal working environment, or an explosion.

CSD Sealing Systems offers utilities its innovative Rise Rapid sealing system, which is made up of two components: a thermoplastic sleeve which is passed into the ducting, and a silicon-based fire-rated material which is gunned over the sleeve completing the seal.

This, according to Westerman, provides more than 50 years of “proven maintenance-free protection” with a watertight seal at up to 58psi and a gas-tight seal at up to 15psi.

Westerman says another advantage the Rise Rapid system has over expandable foam is that it is not rodent friendly.

“Rodents love it to nest with [the foam]. They chew it out from the ducting and take it to nest with. It can get to a point where they chew through electrical cabling,” he says.

That raises obvious safety issues, with the risks of cables short-circuiting, but also risks supplies to customers being cut off or impacted. Removing the foam and replacing it with the Rise sealing system removes another potential hazard from the utility network.

The Rise Rapid system aims to ensure that health and safety regulations are met, that assets are able to last and operate effectively for the duration of their design lifetime by preventing degradation and – by meeting these standards and avoiding preventable faults – minimising the disruption to their customers.

CSD counts UK utilities such as UK Power Networks and Thames Water among its customers. It also works with a number of offshore industries in the oil and gas, and renewables sectors, and can count the Royal Navy as one of its customers (see box on facing page).

It has worke refitting HMS Ocean, as well as providing solutions to luxury yacht owners – not customers who would tolerate leaks.

About CSD Sealing Systems

CSD Sealing System (UK) was founded in March 1993 and specialises in the supply of fireproof, gas-tight, and watertight sealing systems.

The company initially focused on offshore projects, such as fitting out Royal Navy ships and offshore oil rigs, before shifting its attention onshore about 12 years ago.

CSD is the UK representative of Beele Engineering BV, a Dutch company with more than 40 years’ experience in the development and production of penetration sealing systems.

What is DSEAR?

The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 came fully into effect in June 2006.

They places a duty on employers to protect people from the risks of fire, explosion and the corrosion of metal in the workplace, and to any members of the public who may be put at risk by work activity.

From June 2015 the regulations also cover the risk caused by gases under pressure and substances that are corrosive to metals.

Asset owners are required to eliminate the risks or reduce them “as far as is reasonably practicable”.

The sectors working with CSD Sealing Systems

Following the introduction of DSEAR, CSD Sealing Systems has targeted its Rise Rapid duct sealing system at a number of onshore markets including water, electricity and telecoms.

The system is specified for use by National Grid and by the majority of distribution network operators, including Northern Powergrid, Western Power Distribution, UK Power Networks and Scottish Power, for use at their substations. The company also has a framework agreement with Northern Ireland Electricity.

CSD Sealing Systems says its customers in the water industry include Thames Water, United Utilities, Scottish Water, Yorkshire Water and Southern Water.

British Telecom is also a customer, while Asda and Sainsbury’s are among those who use the system on petrol station forecourts.

CSD Sealing Systems has also been involved in the multi-million-pound upgrade of the Royal Navy helicopter carrier and assault ship HMS Ocean.