September 2020

26 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk September 2020 Energy, the Environment & Water Focus on: Boilers, Burners & Controls Boiler systems are required to comply with a raft of different legislation, including the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999; the Pressure Equipment Regulations 1999; the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000, and The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002. Derry Carr – CEA Immediate Past Chairman, and David Kilpatrick – CEA Director, report. Maximising safety in the boiler house T he Guidance documents from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on the safe operation of boilers, PM5 and SAFed’s PSG2, were withdrawn in October 2011 and have since been replaced by a more open document, INDG 436, which provides basic advice on the operation of steam boilers. However, the guidance in INDG 436 is both very specific on the responsibility of owners, managers and supervisors, and well- suited for use by those who may not have access to technical industry guidance. BG01 is a boiler guide endorsed by the HSE, and prepared by the CEA and Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed), which details stringent guidance that boiler houses must be operated in accordance with, and runs in parallel with INDG 436. BG01 is applicable to any facility with an industrial or commercial steam boiler operating at between 0.5 and 32 bar gauge, and at a temperature between 110 and 400°C. The second edition of BG01 was published in 2019 along with seven other guidance documents BG02 – BG08 covering many of the issues around safely managing the boiler house. If it’s a hot water boiler system, then BG02 covers Low Temperature Hot Water (LTHW) which is non PSSR and High Temperature Hot Water (HTHW) that falls within the PSSR. Biomass Many hospitals and other organisations have gone down the route of installing biomass boilers with varying degrees of success, or not as the case may be. Often these biomass plants cause significant issues in several different ways including, fuel delivery, fuel handling, combustion, explosions, emissions etc. It is highly likely that many of the existing installations will not be able to meet the Medium Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD) which became law in 2018. BG05 is the Guidance for Design and Operation of Biomass Systems and it is a guidance document intended to provide advice to clients, designers and those who operate and maintain commercial or industrial (i.e. non- domestic) biomass systems using wood in the form of pellets or chips. Those involved in the procurement, design, construction and the ongoing operation (including maintenance) of biomass systems have duties to co-operate and share relevant information required for the development of a safe system of work. They have a number of legal responsibilities (Duties of care) and to comply with these duties they should possess or have access to good, current knowledge of

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