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What exactly is Total-Ex?
Total-Ex is the live Hazardous Area Verification Dossier – HAVD.
It is a software solution that tackles current-day HAVD management inefficiencies. As is, almost all HAVDs are managed in spreadsheets, where competency management (also in a spreadsheet) and version control continue to be a problem. Further, the opportunity for human error in existing processes is high, Total-Ex removes this issue, minimisation of such factors when dealing with data management in dangerous and high-risk compliance areas is what Total-Ex is for.
Total-Ex manages all of your EEHA Tag data through all stages of your project and as such is the Single Source of Truth for your data at any stage of your project. Custom in-built rule checks ensure that all of your fields of data are compliant, it will not allow a tag to leave the engineering phase until all rules have passed, and all required certificates and documents have been attached to the tag.
Total-Ex manages the process through construction and from there, Total-Ex generates custom and streamlined ITRs against the tag which are completed in the software on intrinsically safe devices, even without an active internet connection. ITRs can then be reviewed, and saved in the system against the tag, providing functionality to export in PDF format if required. Inspections capture all failure modes and use the data collected during inspection to provide recommendations for future inspection regimes to keep your site compliant, and running efficiently at lower cost – 100% inspection verses continuous supervision.
In the operations field, Total-Ex gives you access to dashboards to view all elements of your site, from which tags are in operation, to which are inspected and where and why failures are occurring.
What is EEHA?
If you have found yourself reading this, there is a very high chance that you already know the answer to this. But to try and assist with ‘acronym overload’ we will define a few of the commonly used terms below.
EEHA stands for ‘Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Areas’. It relates to electrical devices or equipment that pose a risk of fire or explosion when operating in a hazardous area, due to flammable gases, vapours, liquids, and dust. There are strict regulatory standards and guidelines in place to ensure that your equipment is compliant and not at risk of causing an explosion, or worse. Total-Ex helps to guide you through the process from start to finish to ensure your plant and equipment are safe, compliant and certified.
What is a HAVD?
HAVD stands for Hazardous Area Verification Dossier.
A verification dossier is a live document used for detailing the design, installation and maintenance history of the electrical equipment for hazardous areas on site. Typically this is managed in multiple spreadsheets and folder structures which which brings with it an element of human error and pain with housekeeping, permissions and version control.
Total-Ex is ‘The LIVE HAVD™’
What is an ITR?
An ITR, or Inspection Test Report is a document or form which serves as proof that the design details and specs were followed correctly and that a responsible third party witnessed critical stages of the process as well as validated its integrity.
Simply put, an EEHA ITR is the documented proof that the design was implemented in construction and the equipment is certified, and has tested successfully, for use in explosive hazardous areas.
Total-Ex generates smart ITRs based on the equipment’s Protection Technique to ensure only relevant questions and checks are provided to your inspectors. This optimisation will save you time and assists in keeping your staff engaged and away from unnecessary ‘NA’ inputs, and in doing so reducing the ‘tick n flick’ mentality while completing their inspections.
What is a “Tag”?
In EEHA, a “Tag” refers to the device, and all of the data associated to it.
Simply put, a Tag is a piece of equipment on your site.
What is a Hazardous Area?
A “hazardous area” is defined as an area in which the atmosphere contains, or may contain in sufficient quantities, flammable or explosive gases, dust or vapours.
They are quite literally all around us, from petrol stations & pharmaceutical labs to grain silos and most, if not all mining and oil & gas production sites.
Identifying these areas, and ensuring your equipment is rated and compliant for the environment is what Total-Ex does best, and is a safety net for your engineers catching any mistakes or oversights in all stages of EEHA compliance.
Where is my data stored?
By default, Total-Ex is hosted on AWS, and your data stays in Australia. AWS is the world’s most secure cloud platform, but if self-hosting the software on your own servers is preferable, or required, that can also be discussed.
For more information on the hosting options for Total-Ex, leave a message here and we will get back to you as soon as possible for a discussion on your organisation’s requirements.
How does Total-Ex handle permissions and competencies?
Most software has standard permission sets for different views and features of an application. Total-Ex allows you to create custom roles and permission sets, but in addition to standard permissions, Total-Ex also checks the user’s ‘Competency’ to ensure the user is both permitted and competent to complete the action in the software.
Competencies are assigned to a user when uploading their certificates or qualifications and can be set and customised per project.
You can rest easy knowing that if an action or change is taking place in your HAVD, the user is both competent and permitted to do so.
How many users and tags can I have in my project?
There is no limit. Part of the onboarding process is to identify how many tags and users are needed on your project, and a tailored pricing plan will be discussed on your individual requirements.
Simply leave a message here and a Total-Ex representative will be in contact soon to discuss what plans are available and best suited for your organisation.
How does ‘Offline-mode’ work in a browser-based application?
We understand that many sites that require HA inspections will not have an internet connection available to them when their inspectors are in the field.
As long as you have an internet connection at the time of being assigned an inspection, you are able to leave Wifi reception and still complete your inspections on an intrinsically safe device from the bowser based application.
All of your assigned inspections, associated tag data and documents are available while ‘offline’, and your inspectors are provided with an opportunity to review their inspection before uploading to the system when an internet connection is restored.
What is an intrinsically safe device?
A device which is termed “intrinsically safe” has been designed to be incapable of producing heat or spark sufficient to ignite an explosive atmosphere, even if the device has experienced deterioration or has been damaged.
Typically for inspections to take place on a tablet or mobile phone, an intrinsically safe case is used to ensure no heat or sparks can be created.
How is Total-Ex different from all the other inspection platforms flooding the market?
The market is flooded with inspection platforms that do little more than a traditional paper-based system. Total-Ex does not consider itself an inspection platform, inspections are simply PART of the compliance cycle, Total-Ex provides efficiencies that come with being the Single Source of Truth for your HAVD data.
Total-Ex excels (pardon the spreadsheet pun) in total EEHA lifecycle management. Having the engineering data available in the one system allows us to serve efficient ‘smart ITRs’, based on the protection technique of your device. You will only be given the relevant inspection criteria to complete for the specific tag, moving away from the ‘tick n flick’ processes, and unnecessary use of ‘NA’ when completing your inspections.
In addition, the data capturing during the inspection continues to work for you, in providing suggested inspection regimes and an overview of failure mode analysis for your site.
Because of Total-Ex’s strict permission and competency-based requirements in the system, you can be sure that only trained and competent inspectors will be assigned the inspection, and that goes for ITR review and all other areas of Total-Ex functionality.
Can Total-Ex be deployed on existing facilities?
Yes it can, consuming your EEHA data (or HAVD) can be completed in two distinct ways:
Organically over time as you complete your inspections. - As a data entry project such that all your existing data is uploaded for future inspections.
It should be noted that, regardless of either option above, for Total-Ex to be effective the compliance data needs to be imported into Total-ex.
Leave a message for us here and a Total-Ex team member will be in contact soon to discuss execution strategies.
How is Total-Ex sold?
Total-Ex is sold via subscription licensing agreement. The costs are based on Tag count and Users. As such each license will be bespoke, however, these are assessed generally in bands as follows:
- Up to 1,000 tags.
- 1,000 to 5,000 tags.
- 5,000 to 10,000 tags.
- 10,000 to 20,000 tags.
- 20,000 to 50,000 tags.
- 50,000 to 100,000 tags.
- 100,000+ tags.
Leave a message for us here and a Total-Ex team member will be in contact soon to discuss a custom pricing package that best suits your organisation.
HAVD Template
