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Christmas brings strange and wonderful things

Christmas time brings variety to the work of inspectors at TÜV NORD Systems. This year they have twice put their stamp of approval on the so-called export licence for temporary structures – for a special kind of Christmas Market attraction. 

In Emden, a three-storey and twelve-metre high wooden pyramid has been built which is intended to serve as a special trademark of this year's Christmas Market in the town and which also houses a restaurant. But before the mulled wine was allowed to flow, TÜV NORD Systems checked the safety of the wooden structure. Andreas Eller, independent expert at TÜV NORD Systems and one of three specialists in Lower Saxony who ensure safety at markets and fairgrounds: "The pyramid is a sales stand which can be entered by the public and others and which is more than five metres high. A stand like this can only be put into use if it is perfectly safe from the constructional point of view." With the help of an aerial platform, the expert checked at height if the electrical systems were in perfect working order and if the structure as a whole is stable. Back on the ground, a check was made as to whether any trip hazards or sharp projections were present that could possibly give rise to injury. The stand passed the inspection with flying colours and the pyramid will receive a provisional export licence up to the end of the year. After this the operator can apply for a full licence for the next three years.  

TÜV NORD Systems issued a further export licence for an eight-meter high Nutcracker. The special feature of this figure of wood and steel is that it is fully functional, and that is can be dismantled into seven parts and then transported. Now the nutcracker is celebrating his first public appearance, at the Christmas Market in Oberhausen.  "There were no objections during the trial assembly of the nutcracker. But still, his structural stability must be checked again by the authority responsible for inspection of temporary structures", says Andreas Eller. It may be that TÜV NORD Systems has helped a future attraction on its way to fame: the owners of the Nutcracker plan to have it entered into the Guinness book of records as the largest transportable and functional Nutcracker in the world. 

And TÜV NORD CERT has also not been idle in the run-up to Christmas; at the Cologne Christmas Market the company was tasked with certifying stands offering organic food and snacks. The major part of the food and drink on offer to visitors to the market is certified to organic standards and originates from Fairtrade sources. 

About the TÜV NORD Group

With over 10,000 employees TÜV NORD Group is one of the largest technical service providers in Germany. It also operates in over 70 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The Group owes its leading market position to its technical competence and a broad range of advisory, service, and testing services in the Mobility, Industrial Services, International, Natural Resources and Training and Human Resources fields. TÜV NORD Group is firmly committed to its guiding principle and watchword: "Making our world safer".
www.tuv-nord.com

Contact for this press release:
TÜV NORD Group
Svea Büttner Telephone +49 (0)511 986-1270, Fax -28991270
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