Quality management system

A management system is a fundamental concept for ensuring the safety of certain equipment covered by the PECPR Regulations. This involves a clear management structure with well defined responsibilities, staffed by appropriately qualified people. It also requires the use of appropriate procedures, codes of practice and recognised standards in the design, manufacturing and operation of the plant. It provides for the identification, assessment and control of hazards throughout all stages of equipment life, from its design through to operation and disposal.

The ISO 9001 quality management system standard has been recognised and is assessed by JAS-ANZ accredited certification bodies. Surveillance audits are performed subsequently to ensure that the quality management system continues to comply.

The Department of Labour's Engineering Safety Group must participate in the audits of quality management systems before being able to recognise a quality management system as meeting the requirements of the PECPR Regulations. This also applies to the limited attendance boiler and unattended boiler installations, which are operated within a certified quality management system.

Duties of equipment controllers in relation to the equipment

A controller is a person who is the owner, lessee, sublessee, or bailee, or who is responsible for equipment covered by the regulations in a place of work.

Some of the controller's duties in relation to equipment operation are to take all practicable steps to ensure that:

• equipment has been designed, design verified, inspected during fabrication and installed in accordance with the regulations
• equipment is safe, operated safely within its design limits and maintained in a safe condition
• equipment is not operated unless it has a current certificate of inspection
• all necessary information relating to the equipment is kept at the place of work where the equipment is located and that this information is readily accessible
• the Department of Labour (Engineering Safety) is notified prior to operating a limited attendance boiler or unattended boiler for the first time
• no limited attendance boiler or unattended boiler is operated unless an appropriate management system relating to it is in place
• supervision of any equipment or activity is performed by a suitably qualified and experienced person.

Some of the controller's duties in relation to equipment inspection are to take all practicable steps to ensure that:

• any inspection body engaged to inspect equipment is recognised as such by the Department of Labour
• equipment inspectors are provided with safe and adequate means of access
• equipment is inspected at specific intervals or when certain circumstances exist
• equipment, if adjusted, altered or repaired, is subject to equipment inspection and, if necessary, issued with a new certificate of inspection.

Some of the controller's duties in relation to unsafe equipment are to take all practicable steps to ensure that:

• all potentially unsafe equipment is investigated in an appropriate manner and to an appropriate extent
• appropriate action is taken where any equipment or process is identified as unsafe
• instructions issued by an equipment inspector upon identifying any unsafe equipment or process are followed, for example, withdrawal of equipment from service or repairing the equipment within a specified time
• the manufacturer and/or supplier of the equipment is given a detailed written notice if the controller believes that equipment has a type fault
• the Department of Labour is notified following an accident, with a view to prevent further similar accidents occurring (see Incident investigation below).

Controllers of the equipment must have it inspected by an accredited inspection body to determine whether it is in a safe condition for the issue of a certificate of inspection. Options to enable a controller of pressure equipment to extend the period between inspections, and hence reduce costs through the less frequent outages, are also available in certain cases. The application of extended inspection periods is detailed in the relevant approved code of practice.

Owners wishing to operate unattended boiler or limited attendance boiler installations are required to have a management system covering the operation and maintenance of the boiler. Controllers of limited ­attendance or unattended boilers must notify the Department of Labour (Engineering Safety) prior to operating the boiler for the first time.

Duties of employees in relation to the equipment

An employee is a person who is employed by a controller on duties or activities in relation to the equipment in a place of work.

Under the HSE Act, employees must take all practicable steps to ensure that they are safe while at work and that no action or inaction on their part while at work causes harm to any other person.

Some of the duties of employees operating the equipment are:

• to understand and comply with the written instructions relating to the safe operation of the equipment
• to exercise the required level of care when operating the equipment
• to notify the controller of any unsafe equipment or process as soon as practicable.

Employees shall not:

• wilfully damage any equipment or interfere with any equipment's safety system
• increase the pressure in any pressure equipment above its safe working pressure, except for an authorised, controlled and monitored pressure test or pressure relief valve test
• load a crane or passenger ropeway above the designated safe working load, except for an authorised, controlled and monitored overload test
• operate a passenger ropeway at a speed exceeding the maximum transportation speed.

Incident investigation

Incidents which:

• occur in a place of work
• cause damage to any equipment such that its safety and condition are affected, or cause damage to other property that could affect the safety of the equipment
• in different circumstances might have caused any person to be seriously harmed

are subject to the following requirements.

Where serious harm occurs, the controller is required to notify their local Department of Labour office as soon as possible after its occurrence. As well as giving this notification, the controller must provide written notice, describing the circumstances, within seven days of the occurrence.

The controller is also required to notify and provide written notice to the Department of Labour of the accident types listed above, which include non-injury accidents.

Duties of equipment designers

Designers are required to ensure that equipment covered by the regulations is designed in accordance with recognised industry standards.

All equipment shall be design verified unless it is specifically excluded by Schedule 2 of the regulations.

Designers of pressure equipment shall design it to be safe. They shall also determine its hazard rating and specify its design life and its design verification, manufacturing and inspection requirements in accordance with the appropriate standards.

Equipment subject to design verification must, depending on its hazard rating:

• be designed and design verified within a quality management system of an appropriate scope, or
• be design verified by an accredited inspection body.

Designers are also required to consider the conditions expected to arise with the equipment "in service" or "out of service" and to ensure that, when the equipment is properly maintained, it remains in a safe condition. Designers shall consider maintenance and operation requirements to ensure the design meets the need for the equipment to be accessed safely. In particular, critical parts shall be able to be accessed, by reasonable means, for the purpose of carrying out inspections to verify the condition of those parts.

Designers of equipment shall take all practicable steps to ensure that the information establishing compliance with the PECPR Regulations and the information necessary for the equipment's safe operation is provided to equipment manufacturers.

Information to be supplied to equipment manufacturers

Designers of equipment covered by the regulations shall ensure that the following information is prepared and passed on to the manufacturer of that equipment:

• Evidence that the equipment has been design verified where required.
• Details of any special manufacturing hold points and construction requirements specified in the design standard.
• For pressure equipment, the hazard level classification and fabrication inspection requirements.
• How the equipment is to be safely transported, erected or installed, operated, serviced and maintained.
• Any special use conditions.
• Where the equipment is designated to have a finite life, how that finite life is to be calculated, and the actions to be taken when that finite life is reached.

Items of equipment excluded from the requirement for design verification by a recognised inspection body, which may be either cranes or passenger ropeways listed in Schedule 2, or pressure equipment classified as low hazard, are to be designed and checked by a competent person to recognised standards for the equipment and its intended duty.

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