General

Nearly all pieces of work equipment and machinery will require some form of check or maintenance during its lifetime in order to keep it in good working order and safe for use. Responsibility for general maintenance will lie with the owner of the equipment. For some higher risk equipment however, statutory inspection will also be required and this page has been designed to outline how this is organised within the University.

Procurement and Insurance Services

The Estates Department

Procuring Equipment

The Estates Department are responsible for procuring equipment that meets the requisite UK compliance / health and safety standards and for obtaining relevant information from the manufacturer's or suppliers at the time of installation. Such information would include a written scheme of examination for a pressure system, a thorough examination (scheme) for lifting equipment (such as for passenger lifts) and safe working load details for any lifting infrastructure and in relation to local exhaust ventilation systems, commissioning data at the time of installation.

Such information must be shared with Departmental users of such equipment or be made available to them.

This type of information provides the Insurer's engineers and LEV contractors the nominal standards that they should be looking to achieve when conducting future statutory examination and test.

Inspection and testing

The Estates Department manage the statutory inspection contract and will ensure that the Insurer's engineers conduct the required inspection and testing of the University's equipment at the required frequency, for all equipment which has been put on a statutory inspection register.

The Estates Department will have a responsibility for putting onto the statutory inspection register any items of fixed equipment, infrastructure, or portable equipment that they provide that warrants a statutory inspection.

The Estates Department also manage contracts for statutory testing relating to local exhaust ventilation (LEV) systems across the Estates Department and the Science, Engineering and Medical Faculty for all those systems that the Estates Department has been notified of.

The Insurer's engineers, or LEV contractors at the point of conducting their statutory examination and test may recommend that an item be repaired or replaced or could require an item to be taken out of use (quarantined). The responsibility for taking action will depend on where the responsibility lies in connection with the equipment concerned.

Repairs

The Estates Department will manage a number of contracts for the repair of pressure systems, lifting equipment and LEV. These contracts will be regularly tendered for via the Estates Procurement team.

For all infrastructure related items such as passenger lifts or for items that are fixed to the building such as ducted local exhaust ventilation systems, any repair or maintenance work will fall to the Estates Department to manage and oversee. Therefore it will be the responsibility of the Estates Department to repair these in a timely manner if recommended by the Insurer's engineer or a competent contractor appointed to conduct statutory testing.

Any portable equipment that is owned by the Estates Department will require the Estates Department to action any remedial work that has been recommended.

Estates will NOT instruct a repair of a portable pressure system or portable lifting equipment or recirculating fume cupboard without being instructed to do so by the Department concerned. For the Estates Department to instigate a repair, a cost code will be required for any remedial work for these types of equipment.

Whist Estates are awaiting for parts for repairing a fixed item or for infrastructure equipment, they could recommend that these are temporarily taken out of use until such a time that the repair can be safely carried out.

Where a Department has instructed the Estates Department to manage a repair for their own equipment, the Estates Department will conduct this work at a time which is convenient to the Department, but in a similar manner, may have to instruct that the equipment is taken out of use whilst awaiting such a repair where this is deemed necessary.

Departments

Procuring equipment

Departments are responsible for procuring equipment that meets the requisite UK compliance / health and safety standards and for obtaining relevant information from the manufacturer's or suppliers at the time of its supply (or installation, if the Department has opted to conduct project work themselves). Such information would include a written scheme of examination for a pressure system, a thorough examination (scheme) for lifting equipment or safe working load details for any lifting beams and in relation to local exhaust ventilation systems, commissioning data recorded at the time of its installation.

Where a Department has undertaken their own project to install their own equipment such information must be shared with the EstatesCompliance at warwick dot ac dot uk and made available to the Insurer's engineer's and Estates contractors as these provide the nominal standards that they should be looking to achieve when conducting future statutory inspections.

Registering equipment

Departments are responsible for registering equipment on the statutory inspection register that Estates hold.

Anyone in a Department can add an item that requires a statutory inspection by completing the Statutory Inspection Report Form. The details that are required when you complete this form are indicated at the foot of this page. The more information provided at the time of registration will help the Insurer's engineer or Estates contractor to identify the item when they attend site. Any formal written scheme of examination provided at the time of purchase should be made available to the engineer as many companies will NOT inspect and conduct statutory inspection and testing without this data.

It is in Department's interest to ensure that only the equipment that needs to be inspected and tested are held on the register and that the 'communities' that are established on CRIMSON are accurate, i.e. that the equipment registered accurately reflects the equipment held by the department and that it is not registered against another.

Identification of Departmental representatives

Departments must nominate key representatives to link with the Estates Compliance Team, such that they can be trained and be granted access to CRIMSON.

Departmental representatives who have received training on the CRIMSON system will receive a login and will receive email notifications when equipment has been inspected by the Insurer's engineer and a test report becomes available. Their role is then to interrogate the CRIMSON system, to view the engineer's reports, to take the recommended action and to report what actions have been taken by the department post the inspection visit.

Relevant departments must have a number of key staff trained in the use of the CRIMSON system. Departments must indicate who these key staff are within their own local arrangements and must consider how information is added to the statutory testing register to try and avoid duplication of records being made.

If Departments have staff that need training or help in use of the CRIMSON system, or need equipment to be removed from the statutory testing register, contact EstatesCompliance at warwick dot ac dot uk.

Action post statutory testing

Where a piece of equipment has 'failed' its test or requires a filter change or some other sort of maintenance, then it is the Department's responsibility to follow the instructions provided and to ensure that the requisite equipment is taken out of use (quarantined) or is not able to be used until such a time that it has been repaired.

A cost code will be required by the Estates Department for any remedial work involving non-infrastructure repairs (or portable equipment), where the Department opts to utilise the contractor managed by the Estates Department for a repair.

For LEV, often the only indication on site will be the testing label that is affixed to the equipment. Where the sticker indicates that it has 'Failed' its test or if the label indicates a need for a filter change, then action will need to be taken to take the particular equipment out of use until such a time as the remedial action can be taken. It is recommended that greater efforts are taken to take the equipment out of use where this is the case, as often labels are ignored.

 

Statutory Inspection report form (for logging new or to remove equipment from the statutory inspection register)