Albion Valves (UK) Ltd, a leading supplier of valves to the industrial and building services markets, has welcomed new guidelines issued by the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed) for engineers when specifying products for pressurized systems.
Albion believes the guidelines bring more clarity to operations in this high-risk area and will help avoid catastrophic risks associated with specifying the wrong valve when assessing overpressure protection.
SAFed represents the UK’s independent engineering inspection and certification industry, which plays a key role in maintaining high standards of safety within the workplace. The organisation acts as a focal point for all issues and concerns relating to the safe use and operation of plant, machinery and equipment.
The new guidelines set out by the Pressure Equipment Committee will help engineers avoid the occurrence of dangerous overpressure situations. The guide focuses on areas such as optimal set pressure, discharge capacity of valves and design temperature of valves. It also highlights the risks of using pressure relief valves instead of safety valves, a malpractice which has become increasingly problematic in recent years.
Les Littlewood, Sales Director at Albion Valves (UK) Ltd commented:
“There has been much misunderstanding in the industry regarding the appropriate technology to use in pressurized systems, with many contractors using pressure relief valves instead of safety valves.
In a pressurized system both safety valves and pressure relief valves are used as the last safety device, however engineers and specifiers need to be mindful that requirements can vary significantly from system to system, and increasingly valves must now meet the EU’s Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) 2014/68/EU to guarantee safety.
At Albion, we welcome the new guidelines, which will help bring clarity to best practice in this area. They will also help ensure that engineers are meeting their insurance conditions and not making false economies by sourcing cheaper and potentially unsuitable options.”
In applications where PED is applicable, it is mandatory to use safety valves with the appropriate approvals. If a valve without type test approval is installed there is no guarantee that required blow-off at 10% would be reached, which poses a big safety risk. Albion is encouraging specifiers to look out for three key indicators when specifying valves for pressurized systems:
- CE marked in accordance with the EU’s Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) 2014/68/EU
- Manufactured to a recognised safety valve standard such as EN ISO 4126-1, BS 6759 or API 526
- Tamperproof to prevent unauthorised adjustment of set pressure
To help specifiers and contractors select the products that are both legally compliant and fit for purpose, Albion stocks an extensive range of PED compliant safety products which are available from your local distributor.
The range of safety valves are all set, sealed and certified by the factory or onsite on a test rig prior to dispatch. Each valve is laser etched with its own unique serial number to allow certification to be traced.
For further information on SAFed visit http://www.safed.co.uk
