Frank Farrell honoured with IEC Award

Frank Farrell, one of the staff in ESB Networks, Asset Management, Osprey House, has recently been awarded the prestigious "IEC 1906 Award" by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). IEC is the international body for standardisation in the electro-technical field, covering electrical, electronic and related technologies. With the approach of its centenary year, the IEC instituted this special award to acknowledge the work of its technical experts. It comprises an individualised certificate and IEC pin, and is granted "for exceptional recent contribution to work related to the development of a specific work project".

The work of IEC is carried out through a structure of Technical Committees, Subcommittees and Working Groups, comprising technical experts in the particular field. These committees and groups have produced thousands of international standards, technical reports, specifications, guides and other publications. Many of these publications are very familiar to ESB engineers in several departments. They play a vital role in national and international commerce, equipment procurement, quality assurance, etc.

Frank has been a member of a number of groups and, in particular, was Convenor of one of the Working Groups from 1998 until 2004, during which time three international standards and one technical report have been brought to publication with a number of other reports developed to an advanced stage. In particular Frank was heavily involved in the adoption of EN50160 Quality of Supply standard, now in use throughout Europe. Congratulations to Frank on receiving this great honour.