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PACIFIC 2012 runs from 31 January – 3 February 2012 at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre and is the premier International Maritime Exposition in Australia.

Come and visit us at Stand 6C16 to discuss the EMC, electrical safety and environmental testing services we provide the Defence and Maritime Industries.

Further information about the conference and exhibition can be found here http://www.pacific2012.com.au/index.html

With so many products of varying quality competing for the same market, how can a buyer differentiate between an electrical item that has been Tested in Australia to Australian standards, with one tested by a non accredited overseas lab or in many cases, not at all ?

Austest Laboratories, the largest safety, EMC, Telecommunications and Environmental testing company in Australia, has released the “Australian tested product” mark, free to all clients who have submitted products for compliance testing.  The mark is aimed to show to consumers, which importers and manufacturers have committed to meeting Australian Standards performed under an accredited testing regime.

“We’re tired of seeing sub-standard products in the market, reviewing foreign test reports from labs that clearly have no idea what they are doing, and watching local manufacturers and importers losing market share to cheap imported products that clearly fail to meet minimum standards for electrical safety and EMC” states Martin Garwood, Managing Director of Austest Labs. “This is our way of helping our clients demonstrate to consumers, their commitment to ensuring products they sell, meet Australian Standards”.

The mark can be used on products tested to the applicable regulatory requirements, be they electrical safety and/or EMC, Telecommunications, Environmental and Energy Efficiency. Ideal locations for the mark would be on packaging visible to the consumer at the time of purchase, and/or on product marketing brochures.

There is no fee for the use of the mark by Austest clients.  A basic terms and conditions document is required to be signed before use of the mark, which can be obtained from Austest Laboratories. The mark can be applied to any products tested with Austest Labs from June 2008.

We’re the 1st to admit that testing and approvals can be a pretty dry subject. With this in mind, we’ve tried to liven things up with the launch of our Facebook page, which will post regular updates on the large changes to our Australian labs occurring over the coming months.

Like us on Facebook

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Austest Laboratories is the leading Australian Telecommunication/EMC/Electrical Safety Compliance Test Facility, providing comprehensive test and certification services for lighting and other domestic electrical, IT & telecommunications products.

We are currently undergoing rapid growth and expansion, and are therefore seeking dynamic individuals who are motivated and ready to grow with the team.

Melbourne

We have 3 positions available at our East Brunswick Vic facility for either qualified engineers, experienced technicians +, trainees. All positions involve testing to Australian and international product safety and environmental standards.

Engineer

Suitable experience in a similar or related field is required and preference will be given to any candidate that has experience working in product compliance.

A managerial position is available to the candidate that has the right balance of technical and commercial skills.

Technician

Suitable experience in a similar or related field is preferred and preference will be given to any candidate that has experience working in product compliance.  A sound knowledge of electrical principals is required, accompanied by either a TAFE Certificate in electronics, nearing completion of a certificate or relevant industry experience.

Trainee

For the trainee position, a candidate nearing completion of a certificate or relevant industry experience is preferred.  Training will be provided as you will be assigned to work with one of our experienced safety engineers. Training in our Sydney lab may also be offered.

Sydney

Technician

Suitable experience in a similar or related field is preferred and preference will be given to any candidate that has experience working in product compliance.  A sound knowledge of electrical principals is required, accompanied by either a TAFE Certificate in electronics, nearing completion of a certificate or relevant industry experience.

General

All applicants must have Australian permanent residence or a valid working visa. Salaries are commensurate with experience.  Please email resume w/ covering letter (including salary expectations) to info@approvalspecialists.com No phone calls, no agencies please.

Following substantial capital investment, Austest Laboratories is pleased to announce a huge increase in the scope of our accredited testing services for domestic, commercial and military products to assist Australian and International manufacturers and importers.

The following list only covers newly added standards to our accreditation and does not cover our total listing of standards which can be downloaded from http://www.a2la.org/scopepdf/2765-02.pdf

Newly Accredited Electrical Safety Standards:

• AS/NZS3136 Electrical equipment for spas and swimming pools.
• AS/NZS 3140 Edison-type screw lampholders.
• AS/NZS 60335.2.2 Vacuum Cleaners and Water-Suction Cleaning Appliances
• AS/NZS 60335.2.3 Electric Irons
• AS/NZS 60335.2.5 Dishwashers
• AS/NZS 60335.2.6 Ranges, Ovens & Hobs
• AS/NZS 60335.2.7 Washing Machines
• AS/NZS 60335.2.8 Shavers, hair clippers and similar appliances
• AS/NZS 60335.2.9 Portable Cooking Appliances
• AS/NZS 60335.2.11 Tumble dryers
• AS/NZS 60335.2.12 Warming Plates and Similar Appliances
• AS/NZS 60335.2.14 Kitchen Machines
• AS/NZS 60335.2.32 Massage Appliances
• AS/NZS 60335.2.35 Instantaneous Water Heater
• AS/NZS 60335.2.40 Electrical Heat Pumps, Air-conditioners and Dehumidifiers
• AS/NZS 60335.2.41 Pumps
• AS/NZS 60335.2.45 Portable Heating Tools and Similar Appliances
• AS/NZS 60335.2.55 Aquariums and Garden Ponds
• AS/NZS 60335.2.73 Fixed Immersion Heaters
• AS/NZS 60335.2.78 Outdoor Barbecues
• AS/NZS 60335.2.84 Toilets & Bidets
• AS/NZS 60335.2.95  Drivers for Vertically Moving Garage Doors for Residential Use
• AS/NZS 60335.2.101 Vaporizers
• AS/NZS 60335.2.102 Gas, Oil and Solid-fuel Burning Appliances having Electrical Connections.
• AS/NZS 61347.2 standards as follows:
• Part 2.3 A.C. Supplied Electronic Ballasts for Fluorescent Lamps (except Annex J, emergency lighting)
• Part 2.9 Ballasts for Discharge Lamps
• Part 2.13 D.C. or A.C. Supplied Electronic Controlgear for LED Modules (except Annex I.6.3.3, vibration test)
• IEC, EN, AS/NZS 60112 Proof and Comparative Tracking Indices of Solid Insulating Materials.
• IEC, EN, AS/NZS 60695.11.5 Fire Hazard Testing- Needle Flame Test
• IEC, EN, AS/NZS 60695.10.2 Fire Hazard Testing- Ball Pressure Test
• IEC, EN, AS/NZS Standards for Glowing/Hot Wire Based Test Method:
• 60695.2.10  Fire Hazard Testing. Glow-wire Apparatus and Common Test Procedure
• 60695.2.11 Fire Hazard Testing. Glow-wire flammability test method for end-products
• 60695.2.12 60695.2.12 Fire Hazard Testing. Glow-wire flammability test method for materials
• 60695.2.13 Fire Hazard Testing. Glow-wire ignitability test method for materials

Newly Accredited EMC Generic/Product Family Standards

• AS/NZS CISPR12 Vehicles, boats and internal combustion engines- Radio disturbance characteristics- Limits and methods of measurement for the protection of off-board receivers.
• EN 62233 Measurement methods for electromagnetic fields of  household appliances and similar apparatus with regard to human exposure
• FCC Part 15B
• FCC Part 18
• IEC 61000-3-2  Limits for harmonic current emissions (equipment input current ≤16 A per phase)
• IEC 61000-3-3 Limitation of voltage changes, voltage fluctuations and flicker in public low-voltage supply systems, for equipment with rated current ≤16 A per phase and not subject to conditional connection.
• IEC 61000-6-1; EN 61000-6-1 Immunity for residential, commercial and  light-industrial environments.
• IEC 61000-6-2; EN 61000-6-2 Immunity for industrial environments
• IEC 61000-6-3; EN 61000-6-3 Emission standard for residential, commercial and light-industrial environments
• IEC 61000-6-4; EN 61000-6-4 Emission standard for industrial environments
• CISPR 14-2; EN 55014-2; AS/NZS CISPR 14-2 Electromagnetic Compatibility-Requirements for Household Appliances, Electric Tools, and Similar Apparatus.
• CISPR 24; EN 55024 Information technology equipment – Immunity characteristics – Limit and methods of measurement.
• EN 61326-1 Electrical equipment for measurement, control and laboratory use.
• EN 50121-3-2; EN 50121-4 Railway applications. Electromagnetic compatibility. Emission and immunity of the signalling and telecommunications apparatus.
• EN 50130-4 Alarm systems. Electromagnetic compatibility. Product family standard. Immunity requirements for components of fire, intruder, hold up, CCTV, access control and social alarm systems.
• EN 62233 Measurement Methods For Electromagnetic Fields Of Household Appliances And Similar Apparatus With Regard To Human Exposure.
• Gaming Machine National Standard 10.1 (aka GMNS 10.1), February 2010 – clauses 2.3.52 to 2.3.57 and 2.3.59

Newly Accredited EMC Immunity Standards:

• IEC 61000-4-2; EN 61000-4-2 Electrostatic discharge immunity test.
• IEC 61000-4-4; EN 61000-4-4 Electrical fast transient/burst immunity test.
• IEC 61000-4-5; EN 61000-4-5 Surge immunity test
• IEC 61000-4-6; EN 61000-4-6 Immunity to conducted disturbances, induced by radio-frequency fields.
• IEC 61000-4-8; EN 61000-4-8 Power frequency magnetic field immunity test
• IEC 61000-4-11; EN 61000-4-11 Voltage dips, short interruptions and voltage variations immunity tests.

Newly Accredited Military EMC

• MIL-STD-461E/F (RS101) Department of defense interface standard- requirements for the control of electromagnetic interface characteristics of subsystems and equipment.

New Accredited Environmental Standards

AS/IEC/EN 60068.2.52, Salt Mist Corrosion Testing

New Accredited Wireless Standards

• AS/NZS4268  Radio equipment and systems (Short Range Devices) including Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, Zigbee, Garage Door openers etc.

Testing requests should be accompanied by a product brochure or technical spec with pictures of the item, to austest@austest.com.au or use our contact page here

SAI Global have produced a free guide to the standards associated with solar panels used with grid connect inverters, hot water systems, heat pumps and swimming pools in Australia.  The guide is available for free download from SAI Global.com

A workshop will be conducted at our Castle Hill facility on the 24th of November for manufacturers interested in gaining up-to-the minute knowledge of the European Machinery Directive as part of CE marking requirements.  This workshop is aimed at exporters of machinery to Europe.

Introduction to the European Machinery Directive

During the 3 hour session (time varies depending on the number of questions), we will cover:

• The rules and regulations that are applicable to machinery (machinery & EMC Directives);
• Who is responsible;
• Consequences of non compliance;
• Requirements when purchasing components included within machinery to be sold in the EU;
• Relevant customer requirements and how to meet them,
• How to find information about directive provisions, interpretations and relevant risk assessments;
• Finding information about standards applicable to machinery.

Course Documentation

During the seminar you will receive useful templates and check lists that can be used in future CE-marking procedures.

Background

Since the introduction of the New Approach Directives in EU (most of them require CE-marking) a lot of things have happened, such as new and/or amended directives, implementation of new standards and expansion of the union. A new Machinery Directive, 2006/42/EC,
came into force on December 29th 2009. All machines that have been and will be placed on the market within EU after this date must comply with this new directive. It contains a number of important changes. The old EMC-Directive was replaced by a new directive, 2004/108/EC, during a transition period that ended on July 20th 2009.

One important change is that the “Modular Approach” cannot be used to substantiate compliance with the provisions of this directive.

Your Instructor

PG Nilsson, Master of Engineering, is the Managing Director of CE-Assistans AB in Sweden.  CE-Assistans has been actively working with the EUs Machinery Directive since 1993. PG has participated in analyses of several hundred machines and trained more than one thousand people and has also conducted reviews of the latest EU machine directive in conjunction with the Swedish Work Environment Authority. Clients range from large multinational companies through to small manufacturers of bespoke machinery.

This is a unique opportunity to ask questions directly to a European expert.  The cost for the workshop is $275+gst, credit cards accepted.  Spaces are extremely limited so if you are interested, please contact Lauren at our Sydney office on 02 9680 9990.

Austest Laboratories started in 1991 as one of the first 3rd party, independent telecommunications test labs in Australia, following Austel and deregulation of the telecommunications market.

20 years on, Austest Laboratories is the most comprehensive “full service” compliance test facility in Australia, encompassing testing and certification for Electrical Safety, Energy Efficiency, EMC (emissions and immunity), Telecommunications, Wireless and Environmental product compliance.  Comprehensive international approval services are also provided.

Austest continues to invest heavily in test capabilities in support of Australian industry, with recent significant purchases in the fields of vibration and shock (IEC/EN61373:2010) for the Railway and Automotive Industries and EMC Immunity Test Equipment covering Gaming Machine National Standard 10.1 (GMNS10.1) and Military EMC requirements per MIL-STD-461E/ F (RS101).  Contact Austest@austest.com.au

Austest Laboratories is pleased to announce the expansion of accredited testing under its A2LA (the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation), which provides Australian regulator and globally accepted testing.

NATA (National Association of Testing Authorities) and A2LA are both signatories to the ILAC and APLAC MRA’s for mutual acceptance of test data and reports.  Newly accredited safety standards include:

• AS/NZS3136 covering spas and swimming pools (electrical equipment)
• AS/NZS60335.2.40 for electrical heat pumps
• AS/NZS61347.2.3 for a.c. supplied electronic ballasts for fluorescent lamps
• AS/NZS61347.2.13 electronic ballasts/drivers for LED lighting

Details of our entire accredited scope of standards can be found here

New MEPS Standards

Austest now provides testing to AS5102..1:2009 covering energy efficiency (MEPS) testing of Swimming Pool Pumps.

We also provide VEET Testing to Victorian State Government requirements for power boards and EPODS.

This testing is performed in our new Castle Hill (Sydney) lab.  Contact austest@austest.com.au