Duty of care for pressure equipment at Seveso establishments

This can cause ruptures and cracks, for example, or the pressure equipment may even fail altogether. This is undesirable and can pose a risk to workers' health and safety. The employer must therefore ensure that pressure equipment remains in good enough condition to rule out such risks.

Duty of care, work equipment and pressure equipment

Employers are responsible for ensuring that employees can perform work safely and healthily. This is specified in the Working Conditions Act. Section 3 of this law sets out the general obligations of employers. The employer must ensure that these obligations are met. This Section is therefore known as the duty-of-care article. The working conditions legislation (law, decree and regulations) addresses this in more detail.

Work equipment is often needed to perform the work. Employers provide this work equipment (all machinery, installations, equipment and manual tools employees need to perform their work) to employees. To ensure that employees only work with safe work equipment, health and safety requirements, including requirements on the safety of the work equipment itself and on its maintenance, are imposed by working conditions legislation.

Employers are responsible for ensuring that work equipment meets and continues to meet these requirements. Pressure equipment, as mentioned in the introduction, falls under the definition of work equipment as referred to in Section 1 of the Working Conditions Act. Pressure equipment therefore also falls under the employer's duty of care as described in the working conditions legislation.

The Commodities Act Decree on Pressure Equipment

Apart from some exceptions, pressure equipment is also subject to the Commodities Act Decree on Pressure Equipment 2016 (WBDA) and the Commodities Act Regulations on Pressure Equipment 2016 (WRDA). The WBDA covers the manufacture and marketing of pressure equipment. The WBDA also covers the use of pressure equipment.

The WBDA places pressure equipment into categories based on type, condition, substance, content and pressure (Pressure Directive 2014/68/EU Section 4). This classification determines whether, in addition to the duty of care mentioned above, the employer is obliged to have the pressure equipment inspected in the use phase by a Dutch conformity assessment body or a Dutch users' inspection service.

The pressure equipment subject to mandatory inspection under the WBDA is referred to as designated pressure equipment as referred to in Sections 21 and 22 of the WBDA. Additional requirements from the WBDA and WRDA therefore apply to designated pressure equipment.

Pressure equipment that is not designated falls under the employer's duty of care under the working conditions legislation.

Pressure equipment at SEVESO companies

Many SEVESO companies will have both designated pressure equipment and non-designated pressure equipment. Such pressure equipment falls under the employer's duty of care in either case. For designated equipment, this is further subject to an inspection regime under the WBDA and WRDA that requires the involvement of a Dutch conformity assessment body or a Dutch users' inspection service.

The presence of hazardous substances in pressure equipment, which is common in SEVESO companies, increases the risk to workers.

Equipment used under increased pressure can lead to accidents occurring. The underlying causes of these accidents are found in the failure of companies to pay enough attention to their maintenance, management and safeguarding.

Seveso companies must secure the implementation of the duty of care (in an appropriate manner) in their Safety Management System, for example. SEVESO companies must always comply with the Seveso Directive, which provides frameworks for controlling risks around installations where major accidents may occur.

Inspection project Duty of Care Pressure Equipment

It is not for nothing that the Netherlands Labour Authority is so insistent on properly fulfilling the duty of care around pressure equipment. An accident can have a significant impact on workers.

Companies that work on their duty of care ensure that their pressure equipment can be used safely. They take effective measures that minimise the risk of accidents.

The Netherlands Labour Authority informs companies about what is required and what to look out for. The Netherlands Labour Authority carries out inspections to establish whether companies comply with applicable regulations. In the case of inspections, this can, in extreme cases, lead to enforcement and even shutdown of operations in cases of serious danger.

The Netherlands Labour Authority will be paying special attention to the duty of care for non-designated pressure equipment at Seveso plants in the coming period.