Pressure equipment - Manufacturing, use and inspection
It is important that your pressure equipment meets all applicable requirements, to ensure safe use and to prevent damage to the surroundings.
Regulations for the safety of pressure equipment
Pressure equipment is considered as dangerous technical facilities, for which the safety is determined by:- Design - construction and manufacture
- Installation, attendance and maintenance
- Safety and control equipment
- The physical state (in good condition)
- Control – conformity assessment, inspection and periodic/other examinations etc.
The danger of pressure equipment is primarily caused by the confined energy. Steam boilers operate at overpressure resulting in overheating of the water in the boiler. Liberation of overheated water – through leakage and bursting – can prove fatal to any personnel in the boiler room.
It is even worse if the boiler vessel bursts and parts and pieces cause additional casualties and great damage to the surroundings.
Safety in the manufacturing, commissioning and operation of pressure equipment
Some of the damage that may occur by applying pressure equipment is rooted in e.g.:
- Inappropriate construction and manufacture – of new equipment as well as alteration and repair
- Insufficient care and maintenance
- Degradation processes
- Lack of control.
As to safety and health as well as considering legal aspects, it is therefore crucial that manufacturers, owners and users are constantly up-dated on the requirements for their pressure equipment. This applies to both new and already deployed pressure equipment.
Requirements and rules for your pressure equipment
Today, the Danish Working Environment Service is the supreme authority for pressure equipment in Denmark. All pressure equipment that holds or may develop pressures above 0.5 bar overpressure and portable pressure equipment are subject to special requirements for construction and manufacture before commissioning for alteration and repair.
Subsequently, such pressure equipment must be examined periodically with the appropriate intervals to assess whether the safety and health factors of the application can be justified.
As a starting point, the manufacturer or the owner/user must take care to ensure or supervise that the requirements are met. Depending on the classification of the equipment as regards dangerousness (type, pressure, temperature, volume/nominal diameter, content and thus contained energy), the control may also require involvement of an independent third party body.
Who can supervise that your pressure equipment is safe?
As an independent third party certification and notified body, FORCE Certification A/S may assist you in assessing whether your pressure equipment can be justified as to safety and health, as well as in ensuring that requirements and rules for design/installation and use are met.Our professionally extensively composed staff holds many years of experience with control and supervision (inspection) of all types of pressure equipment based on the current requirements and rules.
FORCE Certification A/S is an accredited inspection body, type A according to DS/EN ISO 17020, cf. DANAK Reg. Nr. 9057.
Based on this accreditation, FORCE Certification A/S has been appointed notified body identification number 0200 (PED, SPVD and TPED) by the Danish Working Environment Service.
FORCE Certification A/S carries out tasks such as:
- Approval body for design/installation, alteration and repair tasks
- Inspection body at installation control, periodic examinations, operational capability and lifetime examinations as well as conformity assessment of the requirements for operation of steam boilers without constant monitoring
- Conformity assessments.
Questions and ordering of inspection
If you have questions about your pressure-bearing system - or want to order an inspector for the statutory inspections of the system, please contact our planning office:
Phone:+45 60 43 94 31
Pressure equipment includes:
- Pressure vessels
- Tanks
- Pumps
- Compressors
- Steam boilers
- Pipelines
- Valves, safety valves etc.
- Boiler and processing plants (units)
- Gas cylinders
- Fire extinguishers
- Portable tanks
- Filling stations.
Degradation processes in pressure parts:
- Corrosion/erosion
- Stress corrosion
- Fatigue cracks
- Creep
- Exceeding acceptable limits (pressure, temperature)
- Collisions etc.
EU directives on pressure equipment:
- PED – Pressure equipment directive
- SPVD – Simple pressure vessel directive
- TPED – Transportable pressure equipment directive.
These directives all contribute to facilitating unrestricted marketing of pressure equipment within the EU/EØS countries and to give the assumption of an equal, cross-border safety level.
Services
Materials selection and corrosion protection
The correct materials and optimal corrosion protection gives your product a longer service life.
Failure and damage investigation
Determine the cause of failure and prevent it from reoccuring.
Welding inspection
Inspection of the welding work is crucial in order to obtain the proper quality.