Who will come to site?
QROS's on-site analysis is conducted by highly trained and experienced staff using
instruments that have been tried and tested and even developed by ourselves. All
our operatives will have generally in excess of 1 years experience of using the instruments
and be familiar with any interpretation levels required.
All on-site chemists will have CSCS cards, general PPE and be familiar with site
environments and working around plant machinery.
We can, depending on your requirements, either take samples ourselves from an agreed
location or work alongside your own site staff analysing samples brought to us. All
sampling conducted by us will be according to a sampling protocol agreed by you.
If our chemists do the sampling, the number of samples analysed will be much lower.
Do we hire out our instruments?
There are two main considerations to hiring on site analysers. The first is down
to user training. As the on-site analysers become more sophisticated, the actual
level of user input increases. Even relatively simple analysers need a significant
amount of technical ability to get the best out of them. To get the best out of an
instrument, the user must be well trained because it is relatively easy for an inexperienced
user to miss instrument errors or to generate invalid data. Generating incorrect
data usually leads to an increase in costs to the project and such data may not be
obvious to an inexperienced user. To build up sufficient experience, a hirer would
require as a minimum one days training on an instrument using real samples. This
usually means the instrument would have to be hired for a few more days than is needed
on site and the operator taken from their usual job and allowed to spend time familiarising
themselves with the instrument. Alternatively the hirer would have to attend a suitable
off-site training course. It is never good practice to hire an instrument, turn up
on site and then read the manual and hope to be an expert. Additionally, hoping
that a person who has done some training 3 months ago can pass on this information
to a second person rarely works either. For effective use of an instrument, it is
paramount that the user is completely familiar with the technique by repeated and
continual use. Moreover, for many instruments the data generated is retained by the
instrument and needs downloading and converting into a useable format. This process
can take many hours for a person who does not have the appropriate software and adds
significantly to the time required to complete the work. This all adds to the basic
cost of hiring an instrument. QROS chemists undergo at least 3 months training on
an instrument before going unaccompanied on site because experience has shown it
takes this length of time to gain the required competency.
A second consideration is the hidden cost of hiring a single instrument to do the
job. The full benefits of on-site analysis are only realised if results can be generated
within the day or faster. Hiring a single instrument does not include the contingency
of instrument failure or damage. A failed instrument can lead to a delay of several
days as the instrument is replaced or repaired and the benefit of the rapid on-site
analysis is lost. Staff will be hanging around waiting for equipment to arrive or
samples will need sending to a lab for the highly expensive rapid turnaround option.
This can significantly increase project costs.
Consequently the way QROS operates is for the on-site chemist to come out, set up
and operate on your site. Such an arrangement will give you reliable data, a level
of independence from the results and a much higher certainty that the job will be
completed within the required timeframe. If after reading this, hiring of an instrument
is still what you need, please contact QROS for more information.. We can provide
a comprehensive training program and support while using the analyser.
