6/25/15

By Brian Dowling
Hartford Courant

UTC Aerospace Systems laid off at least 35 Connecticut workers on Thursday as part of a cost-cutting measure that trimmed 200 positions from its global workforce.

"These reductions are required to better align our businesses with current market conditions," said Dan Coulom, a spokesman for UTC Aerospace Systems, whose largest Connecticut facility is in Windsor Locks.

Thirty-five employees were laid off in Windsor Locks, Coulom said, adding that he wasn't sure how many were laid off at smaller locations in Danbury and Cheshire. UTC Aerospace Systems has 42,500 employees around the world.

Read the full story here.

6/29/15

By Brian Bickford
Insider Trading Report

Tyco International plc has lost 1.87% during the past week and dropped 2.4% in the last 4 weeks. The shares are however, negative as compared to the S&P 500 for the past week with a loss of 1.47%. Tyco International plc has underperformed the index by 2.13% in the last 4 weeks. Investors should watch out for further signals and trade with caution.

Click here to read the full article.

6/16/15

Halon Alternatives Research Corporation

This voluntary code of practice is intended to provide basic guidelines for companies engaged in the recovery and recycling of halogenated clean agents in order to:

• Adhere to US EPA, NFPA 2001 and NFPA 10 requirements.
• Ensure the quality of recycled clean agent.
• Promote the safe handling of clean agents.
• Prevent contamination of available supplies of recycled clean agent.
• Minimize emissions to the atmosphere during recovery of clean agents.

The code was also developed to provide assurance to the public that companies subscribing to the code are committed to recovering and recycling halogenated clean agents in a safe and environmentally sound manner that meets the required quality standards. 

5/18/15

By Gina Tedesco
Occupational Health & Safety

6/17/15

By M. Beyer, R. van der Raaij, U. Morgenstern, and B. Jackson
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences

Abstract. Groundwater dating is an important tool to assess groundwater resources in regards to their dynamics, i.e. direction and timescale of groundwater flow and recharge, contamination risks and manage remediation. To infer groundwater age information, a combination of different environmental tracers, such as tritium and SF6, are commonly used. However, ambiguous age interpretations are often faced, due to a limited set of available tracers and their individual restricted application ranges. For more robust groundwater dating multiple tracers need to be applied complementarily (or other characterisation methods need to be used to complement tracer information). It is important that additional, groundwater age tracers are found to ensure robust groundwater dating in future.

We have recently suggested that Halon-1301, a water soluble and entirely anthropogenic gaseous substance, may be a promising candidate, but its behaviour in water and suitability as a groundwater age tracer had not yet been assessed in detail. In this study, we determined Halon-1301 and inferred age information in 17 New Zealand groundwater samples and various modern (river) water samples.

Click here to read the full article.

6/10/15

By Jon C. Ogg
24/7 Wall St.

With the summer here and earnings season more than a month away, investors have been searching for value analysis during a time when market uncertainty is elevated. After all, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went into the red on Tuesday and some investors are worried about a market pullback.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to conduct a valuation analysis in the top three industrial conglomerates: General Electric Co., United Technologies Corp. and 3M Co. The first admission here is that value investors are likely to find GE or United Tech much more attractive than 3M, but for very different reasons.

Click here to read more.

5/13/15


3M, the diversified technology company, has announced that it has become a member of the Construction CPD (Continuing Professional Development) Certification Service. 3M now offers a one hour CPD certified training course covering the topic of Sustainable Fire Suppression options. The aim is to support buyers, designers and providers of fire suppression systems, by presenting up to date information about clean agent fire suppression options, taking into account the changing regulatory landscape.

3M is offering the CPD training session as a Lunch and Learn meeting, where 3M will provide lunch and present the content to organizations and individuals. Attendees will earn one CPD credit as part of their on-going professional development. Check out the link here.

Find out the rest of the information here.

BTP as a replacement agent for Halon 1211 in streaming applications may not be the answer.

It has yet to make it out of the US EPA and we understand there are issues complicating its approval.

 

6/1/15

Offshore Engneer

Tyco Fire & Integrated Solutions announced a new strategic partnership with FGS Commercial e Serviços Técnicos Eletrônicos to provide operators and end-users in the Brazilian marine and oil and gas markets with a range of life safety and asset integrity solutions from a single supplier.

For over eight years, Tyco and FSG have been collaborating to deliver reliable and ethical fire and safety solutions to the Brazilian marine and oil and gas industries. The partnership allows the companies to offer a complete spectrum of works for all types of assets and facilities, which includes: fixed platforms, FPSO's, semisubmersible platforms, semisub drillers, drillships, oil tankers and cargo vessels.

Specialist works will also be available and include: fire protection systems and wellhead control systems, fire plc automation, deluge verification, fiscal metering, portable gas detection systems and environmental solutions.

The Annual NAFED Conference took place May 14-15, 2015 at Astor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans, LA. Click here to see more pictures!

5/22/15

PRNewswire

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- UTC Aerospace Systems is a major supplier on the historic Sikorsky Aircraft S-97 RAIDER™, which marked first flight at Sikorsky's West Palm Beach, Florida, facility today. UTC Aerospace Systems and Sikorsky are part of United Technologies Corp.

The S-97 RAIDER has UTC Aerospace Systems-supplied engine systems aboard including flight control computer, cockpit interface unit, cockpit remote processing unit, active vibration control unit, propeller gearbox, propeller drive shaft, propeller drive coupling, damper assembly and engine input coupling, environmental control systems, actuation and propeller systems, red and green navigation lights, tail navigation light and anti-collision beacon. Additionally, UTC Aerospace Systems provides the SmartProbe® air data sensor, integrated static port sensors and outside air temperature sensors for the aircraft.

Read the full article here.

Gus Sarkos approaches a better grade flame resistant sample of airplane insulation as it's tested inside a building at the FAA Center. Wednesday June 3 2015 FAA fire-safety expert Gus Sarkos (of Linwood) has been developing aviation fire-safety innovations for about 40 years and is the recent recipient of a national award. (The Press of Atlantic City / Ben Fogletto)

6/5/15

By Donald Wittkowski, Staff Writer
Press of Atlantic City

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Gus Sarkos nonchalantly held his hand just inches from aircraft insulation that was being scorched by an industrial-size blowtorch spitting out flames as hot as 2,000 degrees.

Despite the extreme heat, the cloth-like ceramic material provided a fire-proof barrier that prevented flames from burning through on the side where Sarkos stood.

If this had been a real aircraft crash and fire, the thermal acoustic insulation would have given passengers precious minutes to escape the burning wreckage - undoubtedly saving many lives.

Read the full story here.

6/9/15

The National Law Review

OSHA issued a memorandum to Regional Administrators on April 22, 2015 to provide further guidance on evaluating the combustion hazards associated with dust accumulation. Currently, it is possible to infer from OSHA's Directive, CPL 03-00-008, Combustible Dust National Emphasis Program (Reissued), that any dust accumulation of 1/32nd inch or more presents a deflagration or combustible hazard. However, combustible dust determinations are not that simple. Other factors need to be considered, including the area of dust accumulation (see section 6.1.3.2 of NFPA 654 (2013 edition) and the bulk density of combustible dusts.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

The NJAFED Summer Meeting took place on June 4-5, 2015 at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City, NJ. Click here to see more pictures!