environment magazine

MCERTS – an Overview

By Adam Garner, MCERTS

The EA has appointed Sira as its chosen Certification Body to operate the MCERTS certification schemes.  MCERTS Product certification Current MCERTS product conformity certificates are located on the Sira website. The performance standards cover the following:

Air Monitoring: • Continuous emission monitoring systems • Continuous ambient air monitoring systems • Indicative ambient particulate monitors • Portable emission monitoring systems

Water Monitoring: • Continuous water monitoring equipment  - Automatic Waste Water sampling equipment -  On-line analysers - Water flowmeters • Portable water monitoring equipment

Software: • Environmental Data Management Software

MCERTS Personnel certification

The MCERTS personnel competence scheme enables stack-emission monitoring personnel to be formally certified as ‘competent' based on experience, training and examination. The scheme provides assurance to regulatory authorities that stack emission monitoring is fit for purpose and capable of providing results of the required accuracy and reliability. Users of the scheme enjoy the confidence that it is formally recognised by regulatory authorities within the UK

MCERTS for the self monitoring of effluent flow The EA requires certain process operators to have their effluent flow-monitoring arrangements independently assessed and certified as conforming to their requirements by Sira (the MCERTS Certification Body).

EPR regulated sites with an effluent flow monitoring requirement in their permit may be required to comply with the MCERTS scheme in order to fulfil their environmental responsibilities. Compliance is achieved by  satisfactory completion of a site inspection and a management system audit.

All MCERTS standards are freely downloadable from www.mcerts.net.   The importance of personal development in the field of environmental monitoring and MCERTS.

In the current economic climate, expenditure by organisations on training has suffered a downtown. It is viewed by many that training is non-essential, and the focus is on maintaining profit margins.

However, continual improvement of staff understanding and knowledge within the areas they work should increase productivity and motivation. Plant owners also have a responsibility to ensure their staff are kept up-to-date with latest technical guidance and requirements.

With the growing acceptance of the MCERTS schemes in the UK, Europe and further afield, it is now more important than ever that manufacturers, process operators and stack-emission monitoring personnel are kept fully abreast of changes to legislation and policy.

Since 1996, nearly 130 instruments have been certified for air emissions monitoring. The MCERTS personnel certification scheme has seen over 500 certificates issued and there are in excess of 30 laboratories accredited to the MCERTS performance standard.

Monitoring Emissions to Air EN14181 - “Quality Assurance of Automated Measuring Systems” - has seen the most significant change in the emissions monitoring arena in recent times. Compliance with EN14181 is a legal requirement under both the Large Combustion Plant Directive (LCPD) and the Waste Incineration Directive (WID).

Selection, commissioning and operation of Automated Measuring System (AMS) will be subject to EN14181. Failure to comply with the requirements of EN14181 may well result in the contravention of operating Permits with obvious consequences, and also expensive re-validation of the installed systems.

To comply with EN14181, an AMS must be shown to meet QAL 1 requirements; i.e. it must meet certain performance characteristics as stipulated in EN ISO14956. Instrument performance must be validated in ALL cases by field trials. MCERTS certification according to EN15267 provides this validation and meets the required standard. The certified instrument must also meet the monitoring requirements of the specific process or application. RTS and Sira Training MCERTS Personnel Competence Scheme

Progression through the MCERTS Personnel Competence Scheme The MCERTS personnel competence standard defines the competence requirements for personnel carrying out manual stack-emission monitoring. Although MCERTS accredited organisations must use MCERTS certified personnel to carry out stack-emission monitoring activities, MCERTS personnel certification is awarded to individuals and not to the organisation for which they work. It is therefore the responsibility of the individual to keep all records associated with their personnel certification. The MCERTS personnel competence standard enables stack-emission monitoring personnel to be certified as competent based on experience, training and examinations.

The diagram below summarises the structure of the standard.

Attendance at an approved Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment course specific for stack emission monitoring is a pre-requisite for Trainees wanting to become MCERTS Level 1 Certified, and must be attended every 5 years by all MCERTS Certified Personnel in order to maintain their Competence Certificate. The course covers the content of the Source Testing Association’s (STA) risk assessment guide and the health and safety section in Environment Agency Technical Guidance Note M1.

Under OMA (Operator Monitoring Assessment), one of the components that process operators are marked on is competence of personnel, including the management understanding of monitoring requirements (OMA Section 1, element E). Attendance at training courses is evidence of developing and maintaining competence.

Courses provided by Sira Consulting: Dates 2011

• MCERTS Awareness 30th November  
•  Introduction to Emissions Monitoring 6th December 
• Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment relating to Stack Emissions Monitoring 7th December 

Sira can also provide bespoke training courses on site covering the self monitoring of effluent flow and OMA.  For 2012 dates please contact Sira on: Tel: +44 (0) 1244 670 900; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. "> This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; Web: www.siraconsulting.com MCERTS for Water Monitoring Continues to Gather Pace

The MCERTS scheme encompasses laboratories, services, personnel and equipment for carrying out monitoring of air emissions and discharge to water. Not only does it provide assurance to the EA that performance standards are being met, it also provides manufacturers of monitoring equipment with independent verification that their products are fit for purpose, a unique marketing tool.

MCERTS for water monitoring was a recent addition to the scheme, the first four product conformity certificates being issued in 2005. Since then nearly 40 certificates have been issued to manufacturers of water monitoring equipment.

Sira (the MCERTS certification body) reports that it is currently working with over a dozen manufacturers. The following manufacturers wish to promote that they are currently undergoing certification, and should be contacted directly for more details; BioTector Analytical Systems Limited, Endress & Hauser Ltd, GE Water & Process Technologies, and Hach Lange Ltd. Further, steady growth is expected throughout the year and beyond. It is expected that the number of certificates is likely to exceed 50 by the end of 2011 (see graph below).

Some manufacturers prefer to cover a complete product range on one certificate. Aquamatic Ltd, for example include a range of fourteen portable and stationary wastewater samplers on a single certificate. The number of certified products is therefore considerably more than the number of certificates issued.

Details of all MCERTS certificates issued can be found at www.siracertification.com/mcerts Since the EA’s Operator Monitoring Assessment (OMA) scheme was extended to cover discharges to water in 2009, demand for certified products has grown significantly. Process Operators can achieve a higher OMA score by installing and using MCERTS certified equipment. Manufacturers are seeing the benefits too. More and more plant owners/operators are specifying MCERTS equipment in their procurement procedures, even in territories outside those regulated by the Environment Agency.

Further progress has been made on another MCERTS scheme. The self monitoring of effluent flow scheme has seen rapid growth in recent years. To date over 250 industrial sites and 3600 sewage works have been issued with a Site Inspection certificate. This site specific certification demonstrates that flow measurement is being carried according to the EA’s requirements. Some considerable cost savings are being reported by industrial operators as a result of the scheme’s introduction.

MCERTS therefore, is fast becoming the recognised standard for monitoring instrumentation throughout the world. Sira reports interest from USA, Canada, Australia and throughout continental Europe, the middle-east and far east.

It should also be noted that a working group is currently being formed in TC230 to develop performance standards for water instrumentation and automatic samplers, with the MCERTS performance standards being used as the basis for the draft EN standards. The European standards are expected to be finalised and published within a couple of years.

Standards and Innovation Working Together

MCERTS product certification provides independent, accredited approval of product performance that is recognised internationally. The Environment Agency has appointed Sira as its chosen Certification Body to operate the MCERTS certification schemes.

The Environment Agency’s MCERTS Performance Standards for monitoring systems are based on International, European and British Standards. Products are certified based on the performance of the instrument. The Environment Agency’s MCERTS Performance Standards are not technology specific, allowing new and innovative technologies to be certified.  A recent example of this can be seen with the certification of the OCM Pro CF Flowmeter, manufactured by NIVUS GmbH in Germany.

The NIVUS OCM Pro CF flowmeter is an area velocity flowmeter using cross correlation principle to give very accurate open channel flow measurement without the need for a primary measuring device. Reflectors within the medium (particles, minerals or gas bubbles) are scanned using an ultrasonic impulse and saved as digital echo patterns. A few milliseconds later another scan follows. Correlating both signals then allows the flow velocity to be calculated. By repeating this procedure in varying flow levels it is possible to determine the real flow velocity profile.

It is now a requirement for MCERTS effluent flow monitoring applications that all flowmeters have MCERTS product certification. NIVUS is proud to announce that it has been awarded MCERTS product certification for their OCM Pro CF flowmeter for open channel flow applications. The certificate was awarded by Sira after extensive laboratory and field testing of the flowmeter and auditing of the manufacturing process. With this product certification NIVUS expects to increase its already expanding market share into the UK.

The MCERTS Performance Standards have been extended at the request and with the support of manufacturers to cover new applications and determinands. A more recent extension was to the Continuous Emission Monitoring Systems (CEMS) standard to allow for transportable CEMs (Annex F) to be certified.  Servomex, a manufacturer based in the UK, has recently been awarded MCERTS certification for their SERVOFLEX MiniMP portable oxygen analyser:

In their work of verifying the fixed CEMs, source testers in all parts of the world frequently require transportable oxygen analysers to add to their existing pollutants analysis. This is not a particularly demanding application since the analysers are only used for a few days at a time unlike the fixed AMS / CEM analysers which are required for continuous measurement. Since this is the reference measurement which affects the reported analysis of the pollutants it is vital that it has an acceptable level of performance. In the UK and many parts of Europe MCERTS product certification is accepted as verification of this performance. The Servomex SERVOFLEX MiniMP portable oxygen analyser is designed for this type of application but it was not cost effective to submit this for the fixed AMS / CEMS MCERTS approval. However when this MCERTS approval standard was amended to include a provision for transportable analysers, Annex F, this changed the situation because there is no requirement for costly and lengthy field trials. Due to this the project was justified and Servomex was subsequently awarded MCERTS approval to Annex F for the SERVOFLEX MiniMP analyser in a timely and cost effective manner.

The Environment Agency and Sira are keen to work with industry to ensure the MCERTS Performance Standards meet the current requirements of process operators and manufacturers, as well as ensuring they still meet the over-arching requirements of European Directives.

For further details please contact: Sira; Tel: +44 (0)1322 520 500, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , Web: www.siraenvironmental.com

MCERTS standards are freely downloadable from www.mcerts.net.