At CEA conferences over recent years some of you will know that we created a guidance document BG08 for the “Safe Installation and Use of Temporary Boilers” (Hire Boiler) which we included in your delegate pack, along with the other seven guides currently available.
We have highlighted the fact that every boilerhouse across the country should have a Technical Boilerhouse Risk Assessment in place to comply with the law under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Act (MHSWA). Part of CEA’s risk assessment advice is to prepare the site for the eventuality of having to hire in a temporary boiler(s), should you have a failure. But the statistics would say, not if, but when, you have that failure you need to be prepared.
We have been informed by the Engineering Inspection Bodies who examine your boilers annually that approximately 25% of all steam boilers currently fail their annual inspection first time, which is quite worrying!
If the boiler is at the heart of your process how will you keep production going if your boiler fails inspection? If your boiler has failed due to poor water treatment, then any back up boiler is likely to be in the same condition as the one that has failed.
It can take several weeks to organise and carry out any repairs and then to have it inspected again. We also know that 80% of all hire boilers are out on hire most of the time, so there may not be a boiler(s) available to suit your pressure and volume requirements when you need it.
But the good news is, we have heard from more than one of our members who runs a hire fleet, that recently several companies have taken note of CEA’s advice to prepare their sites to accept a hire boiler. They have installed a “Temporary Hire Boiler Station” which includes all services a boiler system requires, not least a place to put the hire boiler and associated equipment such as fuel tanks, water storage, blowdown vessel, drainage or collection etc. And don’t forget your EA permit. Several hire companies advise clients to be prepared and have recently installed several of these stations for their clients, “just in case”.
For those who have not read BG08, there are some other significant issues that you will need to prepare for, to accommodate a temporary boiler(s), not least your legal obligations under the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations (PSSR) and the help of your Competent Person.
If you would like or need a copy of BG08 (£50 non-member, £30 members +p&p) please contact the CEA or click here to read more information
