PED starts to put on the pressure

Taking effect across Europe on 29 November, the Pressure Equipment Directive will harmonise all European national regulations and will be implemented into the laws of all member states of the European Economic Area (EEA). It is designed to ensure common safety standards throughout the EEA by specifying essential safety requirements for the design, manufacture, inspection and certification of pressure equipment.

The objective is to facilitate the movement of goods throughout Europe. Products that are put into service, marketed or sold within this territory will need to comply. For companies which manufacture products that are covered by the PED, compliance is not an option - it is a legal requirement. Failure to comply will be a criminal offence.

That said, however, the benefit is that once a company has demonstrated that its equipment meets all the applicable safety requirements, it can prepare and sign a Declaration of Conformity and affix the CE mark to signify compliance. This will then allow the equipment to be moved freely throughout the EEA.

Although the PED comes into effect this month, companies have until 29 May, 2002, to ensure that they meet the requirements and that all their pressure equipment and assemblies bear the CE mark. Between these dates, manufacturers have the option to comply with the directive or to continue to meet existing legislation.

However, it is important to note that products currently being developed may need to be designed and produced to meet the Directive's requirements.

The PED will affect any organisation that manufactures pressure equipment as defined in the Directive. If your products are covered by the Directive - and in some cases if you only import them to or market them in the EEA - you will need to prove that they comply with the requirements.

In the case of pressure equipment that is built outside the EEA and imported, responsibility for complying with the requirements may rest with the manufacturer, importer or the organisation responsible for marketing the product.

In practical terms, the PED will apply to pressure equipment and assemblies with a maximum working pressure of more than 0.5bar. It therefore covers a wide range of pressure vessels, piping, safety and pressure accessories used for industrial applications, including smaller pressure equipment such as valves, transducers and thermometers.

Some types of pressure equipment are excluded, such as equipment used on ships or parts of pressure plant in nuclear installations. The essential health and safety requirements that affect all equipment covered are defined in Annex 1 of the Directive.

The manufacturer, importer or marketing company must have technical design and manufacturing documentation such as calculations, drawings and test reports which demonstrate the conformity of the pressure equipment to the essential safety requirements.

To achieve this, the company will need to know the:

* type of equipment, eg vessel, piping, steam generator, accessory;

* state of the intended fluid contents, ie gas or liquid;

* type of fluid;

* maximum allowable pressure;

* volume in litres for vessels and accessories;

* nominal size (DN) for piping and accessories.

Once these details have been established, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to carry out a hazard analysis, to design and build in accordance with approved methods, and to test the equipment.

To do this, the manufacturer must decide which of four assessment procedures need to be applied to an item of equipment, according to the category in which it is classified. The category will depend upon the type of pressure equipment, the pressure, volume and fluid. The options are:

* Manufacturer's self-certification;

* Third-party type examination or design examination;

* Third-party inspection;

* Third-party quality assurance certification.

Third-party inspection, verification or certification will be mandatory for manufacturers of certain categories of pressure equipment. In these cases the work is carried out by notified bodies appointed by the appropriate government - in the UK, the DTI - to carry out conformity assessment as defined by the Directive. PE

Jerry Harrington is PED project manager with Lloyd's Register and Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, the first organisation in Europe to be appointed as a notified body to offer PED services. For further information, contact the LR/LRQA technical help-line on 0800 900012, or 0800 783 2179 for a CD containing copies of all PED articles and annexes.