Pressure equipment is equipment that operates under a pressure of more than 0.5 bar. It is used in sectors including the chemical industry, the food industry, and energy storage and distribution. Examples of pressure equipment include refrigeration systems, pipelines, heat exchangers and steam boilers.

To protect the health and safety of workers, local residents and others, requirements apply to the manufacture and use of pressure equipment. For example, equipment must undergo periodic maintenance and re-inspection. This is to prevent serious accidents such as suffocation, poisoning, explosion or fire.

Shared responsibility

The safe use of pressure equipment involves several parties, each with their own responsibilities:

  • Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring that new pressure equipment complies with the safety requirements set out in the European Pressure Equipment Directive (2014/68/EU).
  • Users must ensure that pressure equipment is maintained and periodically re-inspected. For certain types of equipment, users must also arrange an inspection before the equipment is put into service, as required under the Pressure Equipment (Commodities Act) Decree and the Pressure Equipment (Commodities Act) Regulations (WBDA 2016 and WRDA 2016).
  • Dutch conformity assessment bodies (NL-CABs) and Dutch user inspectorates (NL-UIs) are designated bodies that carry out commissioning inspections before equipment is put into service and re-inspections.
  • European conformity assessment bodies (EU-CABs) and European user inspectorates (EU-UIs) are designated bodies that assess certain types of newly built pressure equipment.
  • The Minister of Social Affairs and Employment designates the NL-CABs, NL-UIs, EU-CABs and EU-UIs.
  • The scheme manager manages the inspection scheme used by all CABs and UIs to ensure inspections are carried out consistently.
  • The Dutch Accreditation Council assesses whether CABs and UIs comply with the relevant European and Dutch requirements for inspection bodies.
  • The Netherlands Labour Authority monitors the system that safeguards the safety of pressure equipment to ensure that it functions properly. It also carries out inspections and investigates incidents involving pressure equipment.

Risks, approach and results

For more information about the risks identified by the Netherlands Labour Authority, the approach it takes and the results achieved, see the page Pressure equipment: risks, approach and results.