The last two weeks, 4 employees from Bonaire, 2 from St. Eustatius and 1 from Saba, have successfully completed a training to become Metrology Inspector or Inspector of weights and measures.
The training took place in the Netherlands and it was given by the Dutch Superintendent Verispect. The employee of the weights and measures from Curaçao, who currently performs the calibration activities and supervision in the Dutch Caribbean, was also present.
From 2013, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba are going to monitor the use of calibrated measuring instruments on the market. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (in Dutch: Ministerie van Economische Zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie (EL & I) pays for the training and equipment, with which the employees will soon get to work. The program is completed in the spring on Bonaire, when also the equipment has been installed. From then, the islands themselves will check the kilowatt-hour and water meters, scales, gas pumps and industrial liquid meters.
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What is the weights and measures Department? A car owner who puts 30 liters of petrol in the tank, must have the confidence that he really gets that amount. And someone who weighs fruit in a supermarket, must assume that the indicated weight is correct. It is therefore in trade required to use calibrated instruments. The Weight and Measures Act of BES contains rules for measuring instruments used in trade, such as the requirements with which the instruments must comply or the conditions under which they may be used. These measure instruments are controlled by the Weights and measures Department and tested against the legal requirements. With these calibration and recalibration the government ensures that no faulty equipment come onto the market and the used instruments measure correctly. |