Engineering Bulletin No.

18

Title THE DANGEROUS SUBSTANCES AND EXPLOSIVE

ATMOSPHERES REGULATIONS 2002 (DSEAR)

INTRODUCTION
The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR) came into force on 9th
December 2002. DSEAR is made under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and implements the
requirements of two European Directives:

1. The Chemical Agents Directive, which mandates the protection of the health and safety of
workers from risks related to chemical agents at work.

2. The Explosive Atmospheres Directive, which mandates minimum requirements for the safety and
health of workers potentially at risk from explosive atmospheres. This Directive complements
Directive 94/9/EC dealing with equipment and protective systems for use in potentially explosive
atmospheres, which has already been implemented in the UK by the Equipment and Protective
Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 1996.

DSEAR will compliment the requirement to manage risks under the Management of Health and Safety at
Work Regulations 1999.

Natural gas is classified as a dangerous substance and so DSEAR will apply to Transco.

REQUIREMENTS
The Regulations set minimum requirements for the protection of workers from fire and explosions risks
related to dangerous substances and explosive atmospheres.

The main duties of the DSEAR are that employers and the self-employed must:

carry out a risk assessment on any work activities involving dangerous substances;

provide technical and organisational measures to eliminate or reduce to so far as is reasonably practicable
the identified risks;

apply measures, so far as is reasonably practicable, to control risks and to mitigate the detrimental effects
of a fire and explosion;

provide equipment and procedures to deal with accidents and emergencies;

provide information and precautionary training to employees.

IMPLEMENTATION TIMETABLE
There are transitional arrangements for equipment for use in explosive atmospheres and for workplaces where
explosive atmospheres could occur. The baselines are:

existing work equipment and protective systems may continue to be used, providing the risk assessment
required for the workplace indicates it is safe;

for workplaces already in use on or before 30 June 2003, DSEAR requires the application of Regulations.
7 and 11 by 30th June 2006;

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for work equipment and protective systems made available after 30 June 2003, must be selected in
accordance with the Equipment and Protective Systems Intended for Use in Potentially Explosive
Atmospheres Regulations 1996;

for workplaces used for the first time after 30 June 2003, DSEAR requires the application of all
Regulations;

where a modification is made to an existing workplace, that area of the workplace affected by the
modification must comply with all the requirements of DSEAR.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT
The view of the Health and Safety Executive, who have developed the Regulations, is that DSEAR does not
contain requirements that are fundamentally new and employers who currently implement requirements in
existing legislation should notice no significant change.

Transco currently manages its heath, safety and engineering risks through the HS&E Requirements Manual,
the Transco Engineering Requirements Manual and associated engineering documents.

An initial assessment of the Transco management systems indicates general compliance with the intent
of DSEAR. On the basis of this assessment it is considered that no immediate action is required by Transco
Networks and National Transmission and Trading.

Safety and Engineering Directorate plan to hold a series of workshops in January and February 2003 to test
the robustness of Transco managements systems against the requirements of DSEAR. The workshops will
identify any changes that are required to the managements system and associated documents to ensure
compliance with DSEAR.

Where changes are identified further Engineering Bulletins will be issued or primary documents amended so
as to provide a consistent and cost efficient approach to compliance.

ISSUED BY: Andrew J. Collins, Measurement and Process Policy Manager.

DATE: 30th. December 2002

 Transco plc
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