BCAS 2018

PSSR 42 www.bcas.org.uk equipment’s integrity and safety. User’s/owner’s responsibility Another aspect of the PSSR that is often misunderstood is that it remains the user’s/owner’s responsibility to ensure compliance with the PSSR as detailed below: ● The user of an installed system and owner of a mobile system shall not operate the system or allow it to be operated unless he has a written scheme for the periodic examination, by a competent person, of the following parts of the system: all protective devices; every pressure vessel and every pipeline in which (in either case) a defect may give rise to danger; and those parts of the pipework in which a defect may give rise to danger, and such parts of the system shall be identified in the scheme. ● The said user or owner shall: ensure that the scheme has been drawn up, or certified as being suitable, by a competent person; the content of the scheme is reviewed at appropriate intervals by a competent person for the purpose of determining whether it is suitable in current conditions of use of the system; and the content of the scheme is modified in accordance with any recommendations made by that competent person arising out of that review. So to summarise who is responsible for what: The user/owner ensures that the scope of the scheme is appropriate i.e. which parts of the system are covered (with advice, if necessary, from a suitably experienced adviser); and the competent person specifies the nature and frequency of examinations and any special measures needed to prepare the system for safe examination. Safe operating limits The owner/user also has responsibilities for Regulation 7 of the PSSR about its ‘safe operating limits.’ Specifically, the user of an installed system and owner of a mobile system shall not operate the system or allow it to be operated unless they have established the safe operating limits of that system. The owner of a mobile system shall, if they are not also the user of it, supply the user with a written statement specifying the safe operating limits of that system or ensure that the system is legibly and durably marked with such safe operating limits and that the mark is clearly visible. This regulation complements regulation 5, which makes the designer, manufacturer and supplier responsible for providing adequate information about the system or its component parts. It prohibits the user/owner from operating the system, or allowing its operation, before establishing its safe operating limits. BCAS’ second most frequently asked question is related to the first: Q. What do I do as the competent examiner if I find that there is a situation that may give rise to imminent danger? In answer to this, the PSSR regulations state that the examiner must make a written report identifying the system and specifying the repairs, modifications or changes concerned and give it to the user or owner. The competent person must also send a written report containing the same particulars to the local enforcing authority for the premises where the pressure system is situated, within 14 days of completing the examination. It is then up to the owner/user to ensure that the system (or if the report only affects a discrete part of the system, that part) is not operated until the repairs, modifications or changes have been made. The PSSR is a complex piece of legislation and clearly cannot be dealt with in one article. Its main aim however is clear – to prevent serious injury as a result of the failure of a pressure system or one of its component parts. By complying you ensure that your compressed air system is safe and fit for purpose. Fig 1. Decision tree showing how Pressure System Safety Regulations apply to equipment. (Reproduced from the HSE website) Further advice can be found on the HSE website at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/priced/l122.pdf The full text of the PSSR can be found at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2000/128/pdfs/uksi_20000128_en.pdf