European Directive 2013/35/EU

Working With Magnetic Fields In NDT

As of the 1st July 2016 the European Directive 2013/35/EU and the corresponding UK Control of Electromagnetic Fields at Work Regulations came into effect, which outlines the minimum health and safety requirements regarding the exposure of workers to the risks arising from electromagnetic fields (EMF) and is legally enforceable within all member states.

Presently there is no reason to believe that the UK’s decision to leave the EU will invalidate this directive. All existing EU regulation is expected to be written into UK law under the proposed ‘Great Repel Bill’.

The bill states that Equipment generating electromagnetic fields should be risk assessed and employers must take necessary actions to ensure the risks arising from EMF at the workplace are eliminated or reduced to a minimum.

While there is presently no conclusive evidence supporting any long term health impacts from low frequency EMF exposure, the directive lists a number of short term health and safety concerns. These include:

In Theory any piece of electrical equipment or magnet can produce EMF, although the majority of electrical equipment do not produce EMF anywhere near the action levels listed in the directive. MPI necessitates the use of strong electromagnetic fields to find discontinuities. Further information can be found on the government web site: https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/hsg281.pdf which is a free download for guidance.