Safe technical systems.
Everywhere.
By Catherine Roome, P.Eng., President & CEO, B.C. Safety Authority
and pressure vessels, gas and electrical systems, and elevating devices.
The consequence of a poor outcome on the safety of children means educational facilities are rated by bcsa as high risk. By putting this stake in the sand, we are saying that, as a result, resources should clearly flow to those assets which are high-risk in the technical safety system.
Scope of Technical Systems
A BCSA safety officer on-site at a Prince George school.
Suppose someone told you that educational facilities are considered “high risk”. What? You’ve done your due diligence and your operators are all qualified, seasoned professionals, your maintenance records are well-managed, and you keep things in good working order with a long-term plan for refurbishment and renewal… so what are they talking about, high risk?
Public Confidence in How Risk is Controlled When risk is high, industrialized jurisdictions establish public confidence through regulation. B.C. is no exception to this model – in short, because there are simply some chances we will not take. This prescriptive approach to risk management establishes the codes, standards and training requirements for all operators. This translates into the le14
Ops Talk • Fall 2013
gal requirement for owners and operators of complex equipment to take out operating permits for gas and electrical systems, boilers and pressure vessels (and refrigeration) and elevating devices. In support of public safety, the B.C. Safety Authority (BCSA) must consider the intrinsic, or original, hazards that exist. We calculate this as: Probability of the Hazard to Cause Harm X the Consequence of that Harm to the Public = How Much Risk Exists. If, despite all the best practices to reduce the probability of failure to Low, the Consequence remains High – then it is still considered by us as High risk. As you are all too aware, vulnerable populations like school-aged children and youth present a challenging environment for all operators of complex high-energy equipment such as boilers
We know your facility teams oversee a lot of equipment. Current BCSA records show over 7,000 “active” boiler and pressure vessel operating permits where the owner is identified as a university, college or school. Of those, more than 3,000 are for hot-water boilers and nearly 100 are for thermal fluid and steam boilers. In addition, there are some two dozen operating permits for active propanecylinder and vehicle-filling operations. And that’s barely scratching the surface of the full array of technical equipment in educational facilities across the province. That volume of complex technical equipment requires a comprehensive approach to risk management. What the BCSA holds on your behalf, then, is a unified, province-wide list of what is operating and where – a kind of asset management strategy for the province. This enables us to send out systemwide notifications of hazards, such as the Hydraulic Elevators with Single Bottom Cylinders Safety Order, and to work jointly with organizations like the EFMA to mitigate risks.
