Your Obligations

PSSR

Understand your
legal responsibilities
So, your shiny new compressed air system has been delivered, or installed,
commissioned and handed over. You have been given a pile of documentation,
a full working overview and have pinned the operating instructions to the notice board.
The documents go into the filing system and the process is complete, time to get back to
your core business generate some profit. Nothing more to doWrong!
Dean Abbott, Technical Officer at BCAS, gives a users/owners guide to the
Pressure Systems Safety Regulations S.I. 2000 No 128.

B
As the user of installed plant or the owner of mobile
equipment for lease or hire you are now subject to the legal
requirements of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations S.I.
2000 No 128 (PSSR).
The PSSR is a Statutory Instrument introduced by the UK
Government on 21st February 2000 for the In-Service use of
pressure equipment. The aim of the PSSR is to prevent serious
injury from the hazard of stored energy, as a result of the failure of
a pressure system or one of its component parts. As a consequence
you, as the user or owner, have a duty to ensure the safety of
people at work by providing a safe workplace and safe work
equipment.
Users and owners are defined in PSSR as follows:
User in relation to a pressure system, or a vessel to which
regulation 15 applies, means the employer or self-employed person
who has control of the operation of the pressure system or such a
vessel.
Once a pressure system is installed, the primary duty for
compliance rests with the user.
Owner in relation to a pressure system means the employer or
self-employed person who owns the pressure system or, if he does
not have a place of business in Great Britain, his agent in Great
Britain or, if there is no such agent, the user.
The PSSR also places duties on designers, manufacturers or any
person who supplies equipment intended to be part of a pressure
system to ensure that it is fit for purpose, so as to prevent danger.
As a user or owner these issues should have already been
addressed by your service provider and the equipment should be
fully compliant accordingly. By selecting a BCAS member as your

34 www.bcas.org.uk
 Your Obligations

service provider you can be sure that this is the case and that the
subsequent installation will also be carried out in compliance with
the PSSR and other relevant legislation/directives.
The PSSR defines the legal responsibilities of users and owners
and these are many and varied. It is therefore vitally important
that you are aware your duties and how these must be discharged.
For example, before your system can be designed/installed it is
your responsibility to ensure that the safe operating limits are
specified (and that they are subsequently reviewed and kept up to
date); this is a process that can obviously be done in liaison with
your service provider. It is then for you to determine which of the
PSSR regulations apply to the pressure equipment subsequently
crucial figure in determining your decision process is 250 bar/litres.
installed and/or provided. The PSSR consists of a series of
Therefore for example 1 - 140 bar/litres, it would mean that
regulations and determining which of these are applicable is subject
regulations 7, 11, 12 and 15 apply. Of particular note in this
to a simple calculation of the pressure x volume relationship of your instance is Regulation 12 Maintenance and the following should
system, this being the product of the system operating pressure in be considered:
bar, multiplied by the volume of the air receiver. The user of an installed system and the owner of a mobile
system shall ensure that the system is properly maintained in good
For example: System operating pressure 8 bar x pressure vessel repair, so as to prevent danger.
volume 20 litres = 160 bar/litres This regulation builds on the more general duties in the HSW Act
System operating pressure 8 bar x pressure vessel and regulation 5 of PUWER which require that work equipment is
volume 50 litres = 400 bar/litres maintained so that it does not give rise to risks to health and safety.
In the case of example 2 400 bar/litres, regulations 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 14 and 15 would apply, this figure being in excess of the
Armed with this information you can now determine how the
250 bar/litre limit. The notable factor here is that a Written
regulations must be applied and fortunately the H&SE have
Scheme of Examination is now also required and the legislation
provided a decision tree to help with this process: concerning the latter is far more comprehensive.

For the purposes of this article you can assume that the relevant Regulation 8 - Written Scheme of Examination (WSE)
fluid is compressed air and from the above it can be seen that the Regulation 8 states that Where there is a legal requirement for a

www.bcas.org.uk 35
Your Obligations

WSE the user of an installed system, or the owner of a mobile

system, shall not operate the system or allow it to be operated
unless a WSE for periodic examination by a competent person is in
place. The aforementioned scheme shall also be drawn up by a
competent person.
The content of such a scheme is detailed in the PSSR, as is the
requirement for the nature and frequency of any examination. Also
detailed are the requirements for the persons who are permitted to
certify and carry out a WSE. In this respect they are referred to as
Competent Persons.

Competent Persons
Competent persons are defined in the PSSR as follows:
The term competent person refers not to the individual
employee who carries out duties under the Regulations but to the
body which employs the person charged with those duties. Thus,
the definition of competent person makes it clear that the legal
duty to comply rests with a competent persons employer, and not
with an individual, unless that person is self-employed.
In the case of the PSSR the term competent person is used to
describe the person who either certifies the written scheme, or
who carries out the examination. For those certifying the scheme
the following recommendations are made:
Minor Systems* - The individual should be qualified to at least
incorporated engineer level, with adequate relevant experience and
knowledge of the law, codes of practice, examination and
inspection techniques and understanding of the effects of operation
for the system concerned.
Intermediate and Major Systems* The individual should be a
chartered engineer or equivalent status supported by personnel
with knowledge of the law, codes of practice, examination and
inspection techniques and understanding of the effects of operation
for the system concerned. Have access to a full range of relevant
specialist services in the fields of design, plant operation advice, scheme. The workshop provides knowledge of the Pressure Systems
materials engineering and NDT. Safety Regulations (S.I. 2000 No 128) and related standards and
(* As defined in the PSSR Chapter 98) codes of practice, contributing to knowledge and understanding
required as a provider of a written scheme. Those attending receive
For engineers drawing up the scheme, the requirement is that they a manual with the current advice on written schemes as well as a
must be experienced, capable and have knowledge of the system template for the written scheme, which can be incorporated into
in question. On completion of the scheme it must then be certified company paperwork. A certificate of attendance is issued at the
by suitably experienced individuals as detailed above. completion of the workshop.
To be considered a competent person for the purposes of carrying The examination that relates to the written scheme is provided
out the examination the engineer should have sufficient practical for by a five-day residential course. It is run on demand throughout
and theoretical knowledge and actual experience of the type of the year in Sheffield, for compressed air engineers leading to a
system under examination to enable defects or weaknesses to be BCAS certificate in compressed air system testing and examination.
identified and an assessment made of their significance in terms of It provides both knowledge based and practical hands on
the integrity and safety of the equipment. elements which include knowledge of compressed air systems and
In all cases it is the responsibility of you the owner/user to of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations (S.I. 2000 No 128) and
ensure the scope of the scheme is appropriate and it is understood related standards, appreciation of Non Destructive Examination
that this may be outside of your experience. In this respect advice techniques and demonstrating practical skills in the testing of
should be sought from suitably experienced service providers; relevant safety related devices contributing to knowledge and skills
competent persons can also be contracted via third party service required as a Competent Examiner.
providers. BCAS members can provide such services and a full list As you can see, the PSSR 2000 is a comprehensive document and
of members can be accessed through the BCAS website it is crucial that you understand your legal responsibilities therein.
www.bcas.org.uk
For further help or advice, please contact BCAS directly, or
PSSR courses contact BCAS members (a list can be found on the BCAS
Should you have the capacity to use your own engineers then BCAS website: www.bcas.org.uk )
also offers two courses in respect of the PSSR. The first covers the Dean Abbott, Technical Officer at BCAS can be contacted
directly on: 020 7935 2464 or via email at:
written scheme and is a 1-day workshop for the appreciation of the
dean@bcas.org.uk
elements necessary for consideration in the production of the

36 www.bcas.org.uk