CoGDEM Comment - Changes to DSEAR

CoGDEM is the Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring, a trade association with a membership of around sixty companies involved in the gas detection industry.  We are pleased to have ILM/ETP (the publishers of this IET magazine) as an Associate Member, so we now place a regular column of news from the gas detection industry in IET magazine.

Changes to DSEAR

Many of CoGDEM’s industrial member companies manufacture gas detection instruments and systems for the protection of workplace personnel and the facilities in which they work.  If the gases which may be present are flammable, then the Hazardous Area concepts will usually apply, and any electrical apparatus (including portable or fixed gas detection instruments) will need to be compliant with the ATEX Directive.  Gas detector manufacturers will pay much attention to ATEX 95 which concerns the supply of equipment, protective systems, components etc, where these are for use in potentially explosive atmospheres.

However, the user Directive, ATEX 137, is implemented in Great Britain by HSE under The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR). ATEX 137 concerns worker health and safety in those workplaces where potentially explosive atmospheres may be present. 

DSEAR is concerned with protection against risks from fire, explosion and similar events arising from dangerous substances used or present in the workplace.  These 2002 Regulations are occasionally updated, and it may be relevant to readers of IET that two changes have been implemented to DSEAR in 2015 so far.

Since April 2015 mines are no longer exempt from DSEAR, although specific clauses and exceptions may occur.

From June 2015 DSEAR also covers gases under pressure and substances that are corrosive to metals. It places a formal requirement on employers to assess the risks for substances if classified for these properties and put in place suitable control and mitigation measures (which is likely to include gas leak detection).  This is to allow for changes in the EU Chemical Agents Directive, the physical hazards aspects of which are enacted in Great Britain through DSEAR.

Gases that are under pressure (e.g. gas in a cylinder) may present a risk of explosion if not correctly handled in the workplace. Substances that can corrode metals could cause structural damage reducing integrity of structures if not suitably contained.  

The HSE anticipates that the practical impact, if any, of these changes will be minimal because the intrinsic hazards of the substances being used, or present, in workplaces is unchanged. The need to carry out a risk assessment and have in place procedures for the safe use of chemicals not currently covered by DSEAR is already required by the general requirements of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Therefore, assuming businesses are already complying with these duties, they are unlikely to need to take any additional action.

CoGDEM is grateful to the HSE for supplying this information, and more information can of course be found on their website, specifically at http://www.hse.gov.uk/fireandexplosion/dsear.htm