Health and Safety in Electromagnetic Fields in Welding Erasmus Project

Project Title

Health and Safety in Electromagnetic Fields in Welding

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Recognition, transparency, certification; Enterprise, industry and SMEs (incl. entrepreneurship)

Project Summary

REASON FOR THE PROJECT: The risk of failing to implement the requirements of the new Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) Directive will
have a negative impact in companies accross europe. This is foresseen to lead to an increase of costs for SMEs and consequently to
an increasing number of internal difficulties in order to conform with the Directive. It will be applied to all sectors without exception,
however our focus will be on the welding sector, and will stipulate mandatory exposure limit values established on the basis of the
recommendations issued by the International Community on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection. The Directive itself underwent
revisions in 2008 and 2011 and is set to be transposed into national legislation until July 1st 2016 (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2013:179:0001:0021:EN:PDF). So the need for qualified personnel in this area will
increase considerably in the following years.

AIMS & OBJECTIVES: The project aims at avoiding unfulfillment of the stipulated mandatory limit values of the Directive by European
companies. This will be done by developing an harmonized training course of personnel involved in the risk assessment of EMF in
industry, focusing not only in large enterprises but also in SMEs in different European countries, and to create the profile of a
Electromagnetic Fields Health and Safety Officer in Welding (EF-HSOW).
This objective will be achieved through the definition of educational materials for the training of personnel involved in EMF risk
assessements based on the the upcoming Directive and on the creation of a Professional profile for EF-HSOW.

CONSORTIUM: The consortium is constituted by five partners. SZA will act as Project Coordinator, in direct contact with the National Agency from Austria. EWF is the European Federation for Welding, Joining and Cutting, with a Training and Qualification network covering 31 member countries that will be essential in the implementation and dissemination of HS-EMFW results. EWF is an official campaign partner of the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA). Two of the partners are the welding institutes of Portugal (ISQ) and Italy (IIS), which have strong knowledge and expertise in training and qualification at a sector-based level. HighSkillz is an innovative company focused on user transformation using ICT technology, namely serious games, gamification and social media. All partners also have plenty of experience in the implementation and training of European Directives.

ACTIVITIES: The HS-EMFW project scheduling was agreed and prepared by all partners to run for 24 months; the work that was developed was organized in 7 distinct project Activity types (A), with the several tasks being carried out by 5 partners:
A1 – Research & Adaptation
A2 – EU Common Workshop & National Pilot Sessions
A3 – Electromagnetic Fields Health and Safety Officer in Welding Profile including EQF and ECVET
A4 – Quality Assurance and Evaluation
A5 – Marketing & Dissemination
A6 – Exploitation and Valorisation
A7 – Project Management
The HS-EMFW project has been structured to develop a set of “tools” necessary for the creation of the profile of an Electromagnetic Fields Health and Safety Officer in Welding (EF-HSOW). The assembled consortium will develop this innovative process and maximize the post-project exploitation.

OUTCOMES: The objectives will be achieved through the definition of a harmonized curriculum for the training of personnel
involved in the risk assessment of EMF in industry. For this purpose, at the start of the project, a study will be carried out in order to
understand the specific requirements in terms of EMF Risk Assessement in different countries and in different industries, where
welding plays an important role. This will allow the development of an harmonized European training curriculum.

IMPACT: The EMF Directive will supress mandatory demands for all companies involved in welding. This will have impact in the
European metal working sector which accounts for over 87€ billion of value added to the European economy, as well as over 2
million jobs.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 255109 Eur

Project Coordinator

Schweißtechnische Zentralanstalt & Country: AT

Project Partners

• INSTITUTO DE SOLDADURA E QUALIDADE
• EUROPEAN FEDERATION FOR WELDING JOINING AND CUTTING
• HIGHSKILLZ LIMITED
• ISTITUTO ITALIANO DELLA SALDATURA ASSOCIAZIONE