Safety Department

Imperial College London

Sherfield Building
South Kensington Campus
London SW7 2AZ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7594 9421
Fax: +44 (0)20 7594 9424

safetydept@imperial.ac.uk www.imperial.ac.uk

Guidance Note GN042

Maintenance, inspection and testing of pressure vessels in
research laboratories
October 2007

This guidance note is primarily directed at Laboratory Managers, laboratory workers, Campus Managers,
Building Managers, Maintenance Team Managers.

Pressure vessels which either contain steam at any pressure, or exert a pressure in excess of 0.5 bar
above atmospheric pressure and contain gas or fluids (or some mixture of them), require maintenance in
accordance with manufacturers‟ instructions, testing to ensure that standards are met, and inspection to
ensure that the vessel body, pipework and valves and parts are in good condition – similar to an MOT.

Pressure vessels include items such as pressure cookers, bench top sterilizers, autoclaves, steam
generators, air compressors and some liquid nitrogen vessels. Items such as Estates plant (building-wide
steam generators, boilers, compressed gas silos etc) are not included in the scope of this guidance.

This guidance note includes:

 Definitions of pressure vessels
 How to register a pressure vessel for insurance inspection
 Information on the record keeping requirements.

Table of Contents
1. Relevant Legislation ................................................................................................................................ 2
2. Responsibilities under College Health and Safety Policy ........................................................................ 2
3. Definitions ................................................................................................................................................ 2
4. Pressure vessels and systems ................................................................................................................ 3
5. Maintenance and use in accordance with manufacturers‟ instructions ................................................... 3
6. Requirement to inspect and examine ...................................................................................................... 4
7. Written scheme of examination (WSE) .................................................................................................... 4
8. Information required by the Insurance Inspector ..................................................................................... 4
9. Arranging an Insurance Inspection .......................................................................................................... 4
10. Procedures for registration with Estates .................................................................................................. 5
11. Entry of non-authorised personnel into laboratories ................................................................................ 5
12. Rented and second-hand vessels ........................................................................................................... 5
13. Laboratory equipment which is integral with the building ........................................................................ 5
14. Procedures for inspection and re-inspection after repair or modification ................................................ 6
15. Failing an inspection - actions to be taken .............................................................................................. 6
16. Decommissioning and deregistering unwanted vessels .......................................................................... 6
17. Testing autoclaves in accordance with specific regulations (GM, COSHH etc) ...................................... 6
18. Annual update of personnel and equipment databases .......................................................................... 7
19. Record keeping ........................................................................................................................................ 7
20. Appendices .............................................................................................................................................. 8

Page 1 of 12
1. Relevant Legislation
a) The Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 requires employers to provide and maintain plant
and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health.
1
b) The Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR) aims to prevent serious injury from the
hazard of stored energy as a result of the failures of a pressure system or one of its component
parts. The contents are not considered in the same way as COSHH except where there is a risk of
scalding or where the contents may speed up corrosion or degeneration of the vessel and its
components.
c) The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 aims to ensure that work equipment
should not result in health and safety risks, regardless of its age, condition or origin.

2. Responsibilities under College Health and Safety Policy

As an employer, the College must ensure that its plant and machinery is safe and will not cause harm to any
persons, including College staff, students and visitors (including representatives of manufacturers, suppliers,
service organisations, external contractors and members of the public.
It is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator, Supervisor or other person in charge of the area to ensure
that activities (including safe use and storage of equipment) under their direction do not jeopardise the
College‟s compliance with the law. In practice, this is often delegated to laboratory managers. Safe use of
pressure vessels would include ensuring that suitable vessels are purchased, installed and commissioned by
competent persons, registered with the Estates Helpdesk, used safely by trained persons, maintained in
accordance with manufacturer‟s instructions, and inspected in accordance with a Written Scheme of
Examination drawn up by a Competent Person (the College Insurance Inspector).
Principals of Faculties and Heads of Department/ Division are accountable to the Rector for the proper
implementation of all health and safety policies and procedures in their respective areas and compliance with
College and statutory requirements.
Whilst certain practical duties and implementation of procedures may be delegated by Principal Investigators,
Supervisors or Heads of Departments, final responsibility for ensuring that compliance is achieved remains
with the Principal Investigator/Supervisor and Head of Department.

3. Definitions
Laboratory areas - for the purposes of this document, „laboratory areas‟ include: research
and diagnostic laboratories, laboratory equipment rooms, cold rooms,
media preparation rooms, wash-up rooms, post-mortem rooms and
greenhouses. It does not include other potentially hazardous areas that
are under Estates control.
User - the College employee who: decides when installed plant will be turned on
or off; who decides who has access to the plant; who is responsible for
the controls of the plant; and who maintains and runs the plant on a day to
day basis
Owner - the person who owns mobile or rented equipment which may be used by
other persons such as College employees or College students
Competent person - is someone who is trained and experienced in a particular skill, and can
recognise limitations of personal expertise. In the College this expertise
has been contracted out to the College Insurance Inspector, who is
supported by relevant specialist services and organisational
arrangements, as required by the PSSR Approved Code of Practice.
Written scheme of examination – a WSE is drawn up by a College Insurance Inspector (unless this is
already supplied from the installer/commissioner of the system) and lists
the parts of a piece of equipment or plant (eg safety valves), and the
frequency and thoroughness of inspection required for each part.
Relevant fluid - includes steam at any pressure or gas or fluids (or some mixture of them)
at 0.5 bar above atmospheric pressure.

1
Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 Approved Code of Practice, HSE Books, ISBN 0-7176-1767-X

Page 2 of 12
4. Pressure vessels and systems
A Pressure Vessel is a receptacle containing steam at any pressure, or exerting a pressure over 0.5 bar (7.5
psi) above atmospheric pressure and containing gas or fluids (or some mixture of them).

There are three types of Pressure System

i) A pressure vessel, its associated pipe work and protective devices.
ii) Pipe work with protective devices, eg safety valve and/or gas regulator, to which a transportable
pressure receptacle may be connected
iii) A pipeline and it‟s protective devices

There are three categories of Pressure System – in the laboratory environment, most will fall into the minor
or intermediate systems. Examples may be found in Appendix 1 – Examples of pressure equipment.

Minor systems Intermediate systems Major systems

Small, simple, systems containing
steam, pressurised hot water, inert
gases or fluorocarbon refrigerants.
Pressure should be less than 20 bar
(2.0 MPa) above atmospheric
pressure unless the system has a
direct-fired heat source, when it
should be less than 2 bar (200kPa)
Pressure-volume product for largest
5
vessel should be less than 2x 10 bar
3
litres (20 MPa m ).
Temperatures in system should be
between –20C to 250C
Smaller refrigeration systems
operating at lower temperatures
Pipelines are not included
Anything that does not fall into
minor or major categories.
Pipelines are included if the
pressure-volume product is
5 6
greater than 10 bar litres
Steam generator over 10 MW
Any pressure storage system
where largest vessel is more
3
than 10 bar litres (100MPa m )
Any manufacturing or chemical
reaction system where the
pressure-volume product for the
5
largest vessel is more then 10
3
bar litres (10 MPa m )
Pipelines are included if the
pressure-volume product is
5
greater than 10 bar litres

5. Maintenance and use in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions

Manufacturers and suppliers are required to specify servicing requirements to purchasers of machinery. This
would include service periods for conditions of “normal use”. To ensure safe use, all machinery used in the
work place, including pressure vessels must be serviced and maintained in accordance with the
manufacturer‟s recommendations.
The Department owning the vessel is responsible for establishing the equipment maintenance contract and
meeting the cost of maintenance.
The Local Estates Representative should be contacted when a maintenance contract is being established or
renewed – they may know of alternative suppliers offering more favourable terms or if a College-wide
contract is in place. In any case, the local Estates representative will need to be made aware of service visits,
as this can then be co-ordinated with insurance inspections when necessary, usually at time of thorough
examination.
Equipment may require more frequent and more stringent servicing as well as additional control measures
depending on its location and use. Advice should be sought from the manufacturer in this instance. See 8.
Information required by the Insurance Inspector

Page 3 of 12
6. Requirement to inspect and examine
If a pressure vessel or part of a pressurised system fails, the consequences could be severe (explosion,
scalding etc). Therefore the User is responsible for ensuring that College-owned (including grant-funded)
pressure systems are maintained, operated safely, and precautions taken to prevent over-pressurisation.
In addition, the User must ensure that a competent person (the College Insurance Inspector) makes a
thorough annual inspection and regular examination of any College-owned pressure systems containing
steam or having a pressure x volume equal to 250 bar litres or more.
The scope and frequency of the examination is defined in a Written Scheme of Examination, drawn up by the
College Insurance Inspector. Usually a written scheme is produced as part of the commissioning process,
but in any case will be provided by the Insurance Inspector on the first examination. The Decision Tree in
Appendix 1 helps to determine the duty holders.

7. Written scheme of examination (WSE)

If the supplier has not provided documentary evidence on commissioning and testing, advice must be
obtained from the College Insurance Inspector(s) on whether a WSE should be drawn up before first use of
any relevant pressure equipment. The scope of the examination depends on the complexity of the
equipment and the harm resulting in the event of failure.
The User must determine the scope of the WSE – if for example the equipment is likely to be weakened due
to chemical or environmental conditions then pipe work should be included or if sudden failure of pipe work
would give rise to danger. In practice, the College Insurance Inspector would do this on the User‟s behalf
provided he is supplied with certain information (see below).
The College Insurance Inspector sends the original WSE to the Estates Helpdesk, who in turn will send
copies to the local Estates representative. The Insurance Inspector will notify any subsequent modifications
to the WSE (after repair for example) to the Estates Helpdesk, who will notify to the local Estates Contact by
means of an amended hard copy and an electronic version, which is then circulated as an update. Appendix
2 – Local Estates Contacts

8. Information required by the Insurance Inspector

To determine the depth and frequency of an examination, the Inspector will need to be informed of the use
and environmental conditions that the equipment is subjected to, for example:
i) If environmental conditions are extreme, if corrosive chemicals such as acids or salts are used within
the vessel or are present in the external atmosphere, then physical degradation of the equipment
components is expected and the service frequency may need to be increased. Similar consideration
must be given to extremes of temperature, moisture, dust, etc.
ii) If domestic-type equipment is being used for research purposes (as this would not be considered to
be normal use by the manufacturer or supplier). Note that domestic pressure cookers must not be
used for laboratory-type work within the College.
The User should note under such circumstances, maintenance and servicing periods may need to be more
frequent then those specified by the manufacturer. See 5. Maintenance and use in accordance with
manufacturers‟ instructions

9. Arranging an Insurance Inspection

This should coincide with annual maintenance, as the machine may need to be stripped down for the
Inspector to access its workings. To ensure that maintenance coincides with inspection, two actions are
necessary.
i) Your vessel(s) will need to be registered with the Estates Help Desk and the Dept/Divisional
Safety Officer.
ii) Your maintenance contractor‟s details will need to be registered with the local Estates Contact
who will try to co-ordinate the visit of the Inspector with that of the service engineer.
The College currently meets the cost of the Insurance inspection.
Once the Inspector has visited he will issue a certificate. This will be issued as hard and electronic copy to
the Estates Helpdesk. The Estates Helpdesk will send hard copy to the local Estates representative and to
the Department Safety Officer.

Page 4 of 12
If the Insurance Inspector identifies a safety problem he will inform the user and the local Estates
representative, who will be required to isolate and remove from service the piece of equipment pending its
repair by the department. See 15. Failing an inspection - actions to be taken

10. Procedures for registration with Estates

You must register existing, newly purchased and second-hand equipment by email to
estates_help@imperial.ac.uk. You will need to provide all the information required on the Estates form. See
Appendices Pressure Vessel Registration Form.
In addition, the supplier will provide commissioning and testing data. Pressure vessels may continue to be
used in departments for many years, and may even be moved between buildings, campuses etc. It is
important that original commissioning and testing data is not lost, so Users should send a copy of the
commissioning and testing data to the local estates contact, and give the original to the Department Safety
Co-ordinator.
On receipt of the completed form, the Estates Helpdesk will arrange for the Insurance Inspector to visit the
Department to make a WSE and inform the local Estates contact, maintenance provider, User, Department
Safety Co-ordinator and Divisional Safety Advisor that the Insurance Inspector has been notified. Estates
will add the item(s) to the College Register for subsequent annual inspections.
Newly purchased equipment must be registered in the same way, but the insurance inspection will only be
necessary 12 months after installation.
If registering newly installed second-hand pressure systems, unless the supplier has provided
commissioning and testing data, you will also need to ask the Helpdesk whether or not a WSE needs to be
drawn up before first use. Estates will contact the College Insurance Inspector to determine if this is
necessary and to arrange a visit.
The maintenance and inspection of fixed installations (those that form part of the building pressure system) is
organised by the Local Estates contact on some campuses. It remains the responsibility of the department to
check that maintenance and inspection is being done.
If vessels are already registered, they may have been marked with a unique identifier – such as a
consecutive number and a Building/campus code. The unique identifier will identify the equipment regardless
of where it is located within the College. The unique identifier will appear on the Inspector‟s report, and on
the College and Divisional database of pressure vessels. The serial number will act as the unique identifier
where this is not in evidence.

11. Entry of non-authorised personnel into laboratories

Insurance Inspectors, service engineers, Estates personnel etc may not enter biological Containment
Laboratories, plant rooms or other high-risk workplaces unless permit-to-work or equipment decontamination
procedures are followed accordingly (see College Guidance Note).

12. Rented and second-hand vessels

Mobile vessels are often on long-term hire. The owner of any pressure vessel is required to have it
maintained and tested (and examined where relevant). This applies to nitrogen pressure vessels owned by
nitrogen supply companies such as BOC. BOC are responsible for carrying out the annual maintenance and
testing on all of their vessels and would normally fix a label to the equipment showing when this was next
due. They usually provide a copy of the test certificate to the hirer (on Hammersmith Campus these are kept
by Stores), or a copy may be obtained directly from the BOC. The hirer is responsible for checking that tests
have been carried out, and for ensuring that vessels failing the test are removed from service and either
repaired or replaced by the supply company.
The purchase of second-hand pressure systems should be avoided to minimise risks. They may be in poor
condition and the maintenance history may be unknown. Before use of such equipment it is essential that a
full service visit (combined with an Insurance Inspection if over 250 bar litre) is arranged. See 10.
Procedures for registration with Estates

13. Laboratory equipment which is integral with the building

Some equipment is linked to a building steam generating plant, for example non-self generating autoclaves.
This type of machine will be examined in accordance with a WSE, as it forms part of a larger, unseen steam
system. Estates will arrange for the maintenance and testing of plant supplying the service to the autoclave.
However departments are responsible for ensuring that maintenance and examinations of any attached
autoclaves are carried out (as in 6-10). Other items such as gas generators and some compressed gas

Page 5 of 12
supply lines may also be part of building-wide pressure system. The Estates Department currently recharges
user departments for the cost of maintaining this type of system. Pressure vessels operating via a standard
13 Amp plug are unlikely to fall into this category. If you are uncertain, contact the Estates Helpdesk for
advice.

14. Procedures for inspection and re-inspection after repair or modification

On occasion, equipment will need to be repaired or modified. The Estates Helpdesk and the local Estates
contact must be informed immediately of any planned repairs or modifications so that these may be notified
to the Inspector, who may need to make an extra inspection, perhaps whilst the machine is still stripped
down by the service engineer.
Self-modifications made for example, as part of an experimental procedure must be subject to a full risk
assessment.

15. Failing an inspection - actions to be taken

The Insurance Inspector will take the following actions if he considers there to be “imminent danger” from a
pressure vessel:
 Inform local laboratory staff, and advise that the machine is removed from use immediately.
 Issue a Site Defect Notice to the User or other responsible person (who must sign it), stating what
requirements are needed to make the machine safe (either repair or scrapping), and a time scale in
which to do it.
 Telephone the Estates Helpdesk and the local Estates Contact, who will complete a Dangerous
Occurrence Form.
 Inform the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
The local Estates contact, once informed by the Insurance Inspector, will email the User, copying the
Department Safety Co-ordinator, their named deputy, the Head of Section/Department and the Divisional
Safety Advisor, advising that action is required.
Users are responsible for carrying out required actions (repair or disposal), but must not return a repaired
item to service until authorised to do so by Estates.
The DSC or deputy should check that the required action has been carried out, and send written confirmation
of this to the local Estates contact, to the Estates Helpdesk (who will inform the Inspector), the Divisional
Safety Advisor and the Head of Section/Department.

HSE may write or check personally whether the appropriate action has been taken; if action is not taken by
the specified deadline, HSE may serve an Improvement Notice or a Prohibition Notice depending on the
danger involved.

16. Decommissioning and deregistering unwanted vessels

Vessels for disposal must be decontaminated in accordance with College procedures. Pressure vessels
tend to be heavy and cumbersome, and specialist disposal advice may be necessary. This should be sought
in the first instance from the manufacturer or supplier and also from the Estates Helpdesk. A risk
assessment must be carried out – consideration must be given to disconnection of services, safe removal,
neutralisation or containment of contents of vessel if those are likely to be toxic, weight, size, route from the
building, accessibility of lifts, provision of labour and of appropriate lifting devices. A manual handling risk
assessment must be carried out and only persons trained in safe lifting allowed to handle the vessel.

You must notify a disposal and subsequent de-registering using the Estates Vessel Registration form, to the
Estates Helpdesk, local Estates contact and Department Safety Co-ordinator, who will inform the Divisional
Safety Advisor in January when the register is being updated. See Appendix Pressure Vessel Registration
Form.

17. Testing autoclaves in accordance with specific regulations (GM, COSHH etc)
Autoclaves used for inactivation of certain types of biological waste must meet specific operating standards.
Departments involved in work of this type must ensure that a competent engineer carries out a twelve-point
thermocouple test. This test should be carried out on an annual basis as a minimum requirement.
Permit-to work or equipment decontamination procedures must be followed accordingly (see College
Guidance Note).

Page 6 of 12
Ideally testing should be arranged to coincide with a service. If the machine is serviced via Estates, then
Estates must be informed of these additional testing requirements, so that if possible, they can make
arrangements for testing to be carried out by the service provider.
The cost of this test is met (shared) by the department(s) involved or by the Principle Investigators
responsible for the work. The Principle Investigator(s) is responsible for ensuring that testing is carried out.
If a different employer owns the autoclave, PIs must ascertain from them that this test has been carried out.

18. Annual update of personnel and equipment databases

The Estates Helpdesk provides the Insurance Inspector with a list of Estates contact persons for each
campus.
The local Estates contact will hold lists of contact persons in each User department, for use by the Insurance
Inspector.

The Department Safety Co-ordinator (or person nominated by the Head of Section/Department) from each
User Department should compile a list/database based on the information supplied on completed registration
forms See Appendix Pressure Vessel Registration Form. They should update the list at the end of each
year noting where pressure vessels have been acquired or disposed of.

Every January the Department/Section safety co-ordinators should send the updated lists to the Estates
Helpdesk, the local Estates contact (Appendix 2 – Local Estates Contacts) and to the Divisional Safety
Advisors.

19. Record keeping

Under PSSR, in common with all safety legislation, evidence of maintenance, repair, testing and inspection,
must be kept. The Health and Safety Executive can ask to see such records at any time.
The following persons should keep the documents listed below

Service reports, test certificates User (unless equipment is owned by another

employer such as a National Health Trust or a
laboratory gas supply company)
Insurance Inspection reports Estates Helpdesk
WSE – original Estates Helpdesk
WSE – amended versions Local Estates Contact
Database of equipment and department contacts Department, Estates Helpdesk
Risk assessments User
Training records User
Commissioning data, correspondence relating to Local Estates contact, Department Safety Co-
postponement of inspection, HSE correspondence ordinator

Page 7 of 12
20 Appendices

Appendix 1 – Determine if Regulations apply

Examples of pressure Decision tree

equipment

Absorber vessel
Accumulator, Hydraulic
Accumulator, hydraulic, nitrogen pressure
vessel
Air receiver in association with some
autoclaves, mass spectrometers, EM
units
Air / water expansion vessel
Argon liquid, pressure vessel
Autoclave – electric, non self-generating
(eg part of building steam system or
attached to associated boiler)
Autoclave – electric, self-generating
Autoclave – gas fired (domestic-type)
Autoclave – portable (bench top steriliser)
Autoclave – steam jacketed
Blow down vessel
Calorifier, heated
Boiler – canteen type, electric urn
Condenser pressure vessel
Cooling water expansion pressure vessel
Critical point dryer pressure vessel
Desiccant air dryer
Heat exchanger
Helium hydraulic shock chamber tube
gun
Hot water urn
Hypersonic gun
Nitrogen pressure gun
Nitrogen pressure vessel
Pressure parts of packaged refrigeration
system
Pressurisation unit – softened water
booster
Receiver, Air – vertical/horizontal/portable
Receiver, Air and water
Receiver, Air/oil
Receiver, Carbon dioxide – solid drawn
Receiver, Coal gas
Receiver, Experimental test rig, air
Receiver, natural gas
Receiver, Nitrogen
Receiver, Sewage ejector/air
Receiver, Teaching air
Sand/Water pressure vessel
Steam boiler (electric or gas heated)
Steam jacketed kettle
Steam jacketed pan
Steam oven

Safety of pressure systems Approved Code of Practice, 2000

Page 8 of 12
Appendix 2 – Local Estates Contacts

Name Position Office Tel No. Mobile Tel No.

Sir Alexander Fleming (SAF), Flowers, RCS1, Chemistry or Wolfson Buildings

Anna McDadd Building Manager 48940 07734 879274

Tba Assistant Building Manager

RSM, Bessemer, Mechanical Engineering, Tanaka, Princess Gate Buildings

Guy Fairhust Building Manager 49639 07739 934396

Tba Assistant Building Manager

Electrical Engineering, Skempton, Sherfield, Library, Faculty Buildings and Boiler House

John Grover Building Manager 46161 07753 739769

Richard Pasola Assistant Building Manager 49770 07872850114

Huxley, Blackett, ACE, W.Penny, R. Hill, Union Shop, Buildings

Peter Schreiber Building Manager 49009 07734 078132

Richard Pasola Assistant Building Manager 49770 07872 850114

Commercial Services, 170 Queens Gate, Princess Gardens

Joanna Fownes Building Manager 48931 07709 461099

Wilson Rios Assistant Building Manager 49500 07753 739768

Hammersmith Campus, Burlington Danes

Christine Hobbs Building Manager (1412) 32244 07720 412219

Darsi Wickham Assistant Building Manager (1412) 32244

Brompton, St.Mary’s, Charing Cross, C & Westminster Campuses

Sara Muir Building Manager

(Brompton) (1402) 8375 07734 078934
(Charing Cross) 40729 07734 078934
(St.Marys) 43651 07734 078934
John Barnes Assistant Building Manager
(Brompton) (1402) 8375 07793 655218
(Charing Cross) 40729 07793 655218
(St.Marys) 49479 07793 655218

Silwood Park Campus

David Sammons Building Manager 42340 07710 378453

Wilson Rios Assistant Building Manager 42340 07753 739768

Wye Campus

David Traske Building Manager 42747 07973 874067

Wilson Rios Assistant Building Manager 42747 07753 739768

Page 9 of 12
 Appendix 3 – Relationships
INSURANCE INSPECTOR
 Follows annual cycle of inspections and
examinations
 Makes ad hoc visits to departments as arranged
by Estates Helpdesk/Local Estates Contact
 Draws up WSEs and sends originals to Estates
Helpdesk
 Allocates unique identification codes to pressure
equipment
 Inspects any pressure equipment found
 and informs Estates Helpdesk so that it may be
added to the Register
 Issues inspection certificates to Estates
Helpdesk
 Informs Local Estates Contact of any failures
and faults (verbally if possible and in writing) and
 Instructs laboratory staff/User if immediate
action is required
 Contacts HSE if a fail Certificate has been issued
 Contacts HSE once notified that action on a Fail
Certificate is complete
HELPDESK
 Receives and retains original and amended
WSE from the Inspector
 Receives all Inspection certificates from
Inspector
 Sends copy certificates to Local Estates
Contact and to Department Safety Co-
ordinator
 Gives guidance to Users on system for
insurance inspections, local Estates contact
details, whether a WSE may be required
 Adds pressure equipment to insurance
inspection register when notified of existing,
new or second-hand equipment by User, or
notified by Inspector
 Contacts Inspector to arrange visits on
request of User
 Updates Register annually from information
received via Dept Safety Co-ordinator
SAFETY CO-ORDINATOR
 Informs Estates Helpdesk of changes
to equipment status, personnel
changes (annually)
 Ensures that User meets regulations
 Advises department on safety related
issues
 Ensures that Head of Section is
aware of any Fails due to imminent
danger and action required.
 Keeps appropriate records
LOCAL ESTATES CONTACT
 Keeps working copies of WSEs and copy
certificates sent by Estates Helpdesk
 Advises User on local service contracts
 Liaises with User and Inspector to coordinate
service visits with inspection
 Records if Inspector identifies a problem, isolates
services if necessary and
 Informs User and Dept Safety personnel of any
equipment faults
 Informs Inspector and Estates Helpdesk when
User reports that action on a Fail certificate is
complete, completes a dangerous occurrence form
USER
Arranges repairs and maintenance with
service provider/supplier
Contacts Estates Helpdesk
 To remove or To add an existing pressure
system to the Register
 Prior to installation of new or second-hand
equipment for advice on WSE
 To arrange an inspection (for newly
installed or repaired equipment or if it has
not been tested for over 12 months)
 To ask for information on local estates
contacts
Contacts Dept and Divisional safety
personnel
 To inform of acquisition, repair and
disposal of pressure equipment (annually).
Contacts Local Estates Contact
 To inform when action on a Fail certificate
is completed (inform Dept and Divisional
Safety personnel too)
 To ask for advice on local service contracts
Page 10 of 12
Appendix 4 – Insurance inspection contacts

The College uses Zurich for its insurance inspections for pressure systems and lifting equipment.
Robert Ayers covers pressure systems, and can be contacted on 07764 149343 email:
robert.ayers@uk.zurich.com

John Gagliano covers lifting equipment, and can be contacted on 07764 149425 email:
john.gagliano@uk.zurich.com

“Crimson” is Zurich‟s e-reporting system. Relevant persons, such as Maintenance Team Leaders have
access to it – to arrange for this, please contact the Estates Helpdesk or Julie Bryant
julie.bryant@imperial.ac.uk

The College uses BOC to provide annual inspections and reports for gas regulators – and inspections for
pressurised vessels for nitrogen, helium etc. BOC can be contacted on ext 48745 email:
Jeremy.Applegarth@boc.com

Page 11 of 12
 2
ESTATES HELPDESK Pressure Vessel Registration Form

Are you using this form to DEREGISTER a Vessel? Yes No

If yes, only complete highlighted sections
Details of pressure vessel
Age of pressure vessel (approximate)
Make
Model (if known)
Type of machine (eg autoclave)
Serial number
Vessel chamber capacity
Working pressure (psi or bar litres)
Is it part of the building‟s pressure system? (ie it does not generate its Yes No
own steam)
Details of equipment location
Department name
Division name
Room number
Floor number
Campus location
Details of maintenance provider
Company name and address
Telephone number
Contact in company including email address
What is the frequency of visits? (eg quarterly)
When is the next service visit due?
Section/Department/Division contact details
User‟s contact details Name
Extension number
Email address
Department Safety Co-ordinator Name
Extension number
Email address
Deputy Safety Co-ordinator OR Head Name
of Section
Extension number
Email address
Divisional Safety Advisor Name
Extension number
Email address
DATE this form submitted to Estates
Email the completed form as an attachment to Estates Helpdesk: estates_help@imperial.ac.uk
Important: Please copy this form to Local Estates contact, Department Safety Co-ordinator, Divisional Safety Advisor and User
For urgent enquiries ring the Estates Helpdesk on ext 48000 (020 7594 8000).

2
See College Guidance note on Spectrum: Maintenance, inspection and testing of pressure vessels in research laboratories

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