UK Weighing Federation Technical Officer’s Update York 22nd April 2010

Topics Section 70 Reports 2008/09 The Weighbridge Project Medical Weighing Buying/Selling Precious Metals Re-verification In House Calibration of Weights Market Surveillance

Section 70 Reports W M Act 1985; Section 70: (1) Each local weights and measures authority , shall in respect of each financial year of the authority, make to the Secretary of State by such date as he may direct a report on the operation during that year of the arrangements made to give effect in that authorities area : to the purposes of this Act …….. (2) Any report under subsection (1) shall be in such form and contain such particulars of such matters as the Secretary of State may direct.

Section 70 Reports Deadline Date Number Reporting (%) 1st July 2009 25 (12%) 30th September 2009 52 (25%) 12th November 2009 33 (16%) Did Not Report! 46 (22%)

Section 70 Reports LBRO Study shows: Average Time to complete Report: 4.1 Hours. Average Cost to produce Report: £93.00 Number of Data Items: 57

Automatic Weighing Insts Section 70 Reports %age Inspected 2007/08 Category %age Inspected 2008/09 18 NAWI 0 – 30kg 22 20 30kg-5000kg 35 51 Over 5000kg 64 58 Automatic Weighing Insts 13

Section 70 Reports Category Not Inspected Inspected: No further Action Inspected 28 day notice Inspected:Rejected / Disqualified Inspected: Prosection NAWI < 30kg 78% (75%) 20% (23%) 2% (2%) NAWI >30kg <5000kg 65% (72%) 23.5% (24%) 5.6% (3%) 5.9% (1%) NAWI >5000kg 36% (36%) 48.8% (51%) 9.3% (8.5%) (4.5%) Automatic Weighing Insts 77% (25%) 10% (73%) 8% (1.1%) 4.1% (0.6%)

Section 70 Reports Business Type Not Inspected Visited & Compliant Non- Compliant Retail 82.4% 15.6% 2% Wholesale 63.8% 31.1% 5.1% Importers 65.5% 29.5% 5% Packers 49% 45.7% 5.3%

Section 70 Reports Recommendations: Establish list of all Chief Inspectors Some authorities to report how they ascertain their data Encourage authorities to participate in weighbridge project “Promote” Section 70 reports to all authorities Issue guidance on how to collect data Target reductions in rate of non-compliance

The Weighbridge Project Weighbridges Not Inspected 36% Weighbridges Inspected, no further action required 54% Weighbridges for which 28 day notice issued 6% Weighbridges Rejected / Disqualified 4% Weighbridges inspected leading to Prosecution / Formal Caution 0.1% Estimated Number of Weighbridges in Great Britain 10,107

The Weighbridge Project Section 70 report : “The refreshed (2009) risk matrix indicates that weighbridges are very likely to fail with a very high impact.”

The Weighbridge Project April – October 2010; Weighbridges at landfill and transfer stations as well as beltweighers and other equipment used at recycling centres to be tested and results collated April – October 2011; exercise to be repeated on same equipment. “If results support it some form of guidance on the use and maintenance of weighbridges will be produced.”

The Weighbridge Project An opportunity to co-operate and develop relationships with TSOs. Invite TSO to sites when carrying out calibration testing. If customer agrees supply test results to TSOs when calibration testing without TSO present. Advise TSOs when weighbridges are verified or re-verified.

Medical Weighing LACORS Medical Weighing Project 2008/09: Final Recommendations: Each trust to procure weighing equipment centrally Each trust to instigate a programme for testing their weighing equipment Basic training in use of weighing equipment to be given to all necessary staff Inaccurate equipment to be removed from service pending replacement or repair All scales used for medical applications to be Class III or better All scales used for medical applications should only display in metric units

Medical Weighing Department of Health Response: Principle accepted Equipment to be tested annually. If thought to be inaccurate in interim take out of use and retest When new equipment purchased training to be given by the installer and cascaded to relevant staff Recommendation to remove inaccurate equipment supported All new scales to be Class III or better Metric only accepted, if switchable equipment is used the switching facility must be disabled

Medical Weighing Timetable for Action: Replacement Priority: Action to be underway by 31 March 2010 Action to be completed by 30 July 2010 Replacement Priority: Unapproved domestic type bathroom scales Dual reading scales (unless converted to metric only) All dial type and Class IIII scales

Buying/Selling Precious Metals Equipment must be Type Approved and Verified Equipment must be Class II or Class I If used in “direct” transaction must not have a supplementary indicating device Cannot be used for weighing below the Min value.

Re-Verification Increase in number of UKWF Members seeking to be re-verifiers. Application must be made to Secretary Of State using form INT/06 available from NMO web-site Must define instruments to be re-verified Must have documented system in place Must show support from OEM

Weight Calibration In-house calibration increasing. Concerns by TSOs that weights not being calibrated correctly: Incorrect Standards being used. Incorrect tolerances being applied. No record of errors.

Market Surveillance All Member States should have submitted Market Surveillance Programme to European Commission by 1st January. More Countries introducing some form of Market Surveillance USA introduced VCAP certification for Load Cells in 2009; extending to other equipment from mid 2010 CECIP market surveillance exercise showed high levels of non-compliance.