Q. Who is a "competent" person?

Different levels of competency are defined in HSE regulations. These can cover training, operation of machinery, daily inspection of working parts etc.

In terms of thorough examinations of machinery and plant to find defects likely to cause damage, the competent person is generally defined as:

"A person who has the appropriate practical and theoretical knowledge and actual experience of the plant he is examining to enable him to detect defects or weaknesses and to assess their importance in relation to the safety and continued use of the plant."

In some regulations the academic qualifications of a competent person are clearly defined. In other regulations it is stressed that the competent person is sufficiently independent and impartial to allow objective decisions to be made.

This definition of competency for plant examinations has been tested following numerous court cases. It is not sufficient that you have used the item of plant for many years, or if you are the person who regularly maintains the machine. You must have the theoretical knowledge as well, and be sufficiently independent so that no conflict of interest exists. i.e. if you are the person maintaining the machine, you may be unlikely to report any serious defect to the HSE.

Q. Engineer Surveyor would not start a piece of machinery/prepare the item of plant for inspection/did not have the tools to prepare plant. Why?

The engineer surveyor is acting as the "competent person" under the relevant regulations.

He needs to demonstrate an independent view of the item of plant in order to identify defects likely to cause danger. Preparing, opening, operating, moving items of plant conflicts with this independent approach. In addition the competent person should not repair any item, nor strictly recommend a repairer.

Vulcan Inspection Services is accredited as an independent inspection body under UKAS (The United Kingdom Accreditation Service). As part of this accreditation we have to demonstrate the independence of our inspection service. For this reason our engineer will not carry any tools and will ask the user to move plant in operation.

The engineer is happy to give advice on what needs to be completed before he can start his examination and in some cases may assist the client when on site. For some items e.g. steam boilers it is sometimes necessary to call upon the services of third party boiler service company to strip the boiler and then rebuild it.

In addition, our industry body SAFed (The Safety Assessment Federation) which represents the interests of companies engaged in independent inspection and safety assessment of engineering and manufacturing plant, systems and machinery, in liaison with the Health and Safety Executive, sets the procedures by which items of plant are examined and the activities performed by inspection engineers.

These procedures clearly state plant should not be prepared by an independent engineer.

Q. What constitutes a serious defect?

The term “serious defect” is used to describe a defect found at the time of examination which:

• for pressure equipment, presents an “imminent danger” to persons working in the vicinity
  
• for lifting equipment, involves “an existing or imminent risk of serious personal injury” to persons using the machine or working in the close vicinity

The competent person who undertakes the thorough examination and identifies such defects will report them as requiring attention either immediately or within a specified time period and where regulations require will forward a copy of his examination report to the relevant enforcing authority – typically the local Health and Safety Executive.

Other “defects” may also be identified during an examination which are not considered to present any danger to persons. These other defects and observations will normally receive attention at the next routine maintenance of the equipment and, because they are not felt to provide an imminent risk of injury they are not reported to local enforcing authorities.

Once a serious defect has received attention the plant user should either:

a) for boiler/pressure plant – request a further thorough examination from the competent person who identified the “serious defect”.

b) for all other types of plant – attach the worksheet/invoice for the work undertaken in attending to the “serious defect” to the original report of examination. There is no requirement for the equipment to be re-examined.

Q. Engineer Surveyor sent a copy of the serious defect report to HSE - does he have to do this?

Yes, as the "competent person" he is duty bound under the relevant regulation to send a copy report to the enforcing authority within a specified time limit if, in his opinion, the defect is likely to cause imminent danger to the person using the machine or persons working in the vicinity. However, this should never be a surprise to the customer as the engineer will always explain the defect, it's seriousness in relation to the continued use of the plant and will leave a hand written note at the time of his visit detailing the problem(s).

When the HSE call on the customer it will reflect badly if they have taken no action to remedy the situation. If they have already repaired or have made arrangements to replace the defective item, this is often sufficient to satisfy the HSE inspector and no further action is normally taken.