Order on safety provisions for natural gas installations pursuant to the Working Environment Act*)

Order No. 414 of 8 July 1988 with later amendments, issued by the Ministry of Labour - unofficial version

This CONSOLIDATION

includes Orders
  • No. 414 of 8 July 1988 which entered into force on 1 August 1988;
  • No. 1025 of 16 December 1999 which entered into force on 3 January 2000;
  • No. 979 of 1 November 2000 which entered into force on 1 December 2000.

The following is laid down pursuant to Section 40, Section 41, Section 44, Section 46, Section 73, Section 74 and Section 84 of the Working Environment Act, cf. Order No. 646 of 18 December 1985, as amended by Act No. 220 of 22 April 1987, issued by the Ministry of Labour:

Chapter 1 - Scope

Section 1. This Order shall apply to installations for the transmission, storage, conveyance and distribution of natural gas in the vapour phase, including pipelines, compressor plants, control works, mountings and other fittings.

Subsection 2. This Order does not apply to service lines and household installations; these are covered by the Gas Regulations A, B and C, issued in accordance with the gas installation legislation etc.

Subsection 3. Pressure vessels which form part of natural gas facilities are also covered by the general provisions for pressure vessels of the working environment legislation.

Chapter 2 - General provisions

Section 2. Natural gas installations must be manufactured with appropriate materials and must be designed and constructed in a way which ensures their resistance to the impact factors that they are likely to be exposed to, and which ensures that they can be operated fully responsibly without risk to safety or health. Operation, inspection, maintenance etc. of the installations shall be so planned, organised and performed as to ensure that the operation of installations poses no risk to health or safety.

Subsection 2. Recognised as the basis of fulfilment of this Order's requirements with respect to the production, construction and operation of the installations is: ANSI/GPTC Z 380.1 -1998, GPTC Guide for Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems, 1998-2000, Volume One, revised June 1998, with the amendments specified in the supplementary provisions of the Danish Working Environment Authority. GPTC is an abbreviation for Gas Piping Technology Committee. The Guide was approved by the American National Standards Institute on 15 June 1998.

Subsection 3. The Director General of the Danish Working Environment Authority is authorised to:

  1. acknowledge the amendments and supplements to the aforementioned standard issued by GPTC, which shall apply to this Order;
  2. acknowledge other standards as basis for the fulfilment of the provisions of this Order;
  3. determine more specifically how the provisions of this Order and/or the standards acknowledged according to this Order are to be fulfilled. Section 66, subsection 3, of the Working Environment Act shall not apply to the laying down of provisions under this subsection.

Subsection 4. Prior to their issue, acknowledgements and provisions under subsection 3, No. 1-3, shall be submitted to the relevant authorities and the natural gas enterprises for an opinion.

Subsection 5. Notifications on acknowledgements and establishment of provisions according to Section 2, subsection 3, shall be given in the notifications of the Danish Working Environment Authority concerning safety provisions for natural gas installations, which are published regularly. Both the decisions based on this Order and decisions of general significance are also included herein. The notifications and the issued supplementary provisions are being reviewed etc. by the Danish Working Environment Authority.

Special provisions with regard to installation

Section 3. Pipelines must be protected against external impact

Subsection 2. When determining the depth for the burying of pipelines, local site conditions must be taken into account, particularly regarding the use of the land in question, in order to avoid any damage to the pipelines.

Section 4. The pipeline pattern and the location of the mountings, necessary to the operation and maintenance of the installations, must be clearly marked.

Section 5. Pipelines must be protected against external and, if necessary, internal corrosion. In addition to corrosion protection, unless irrelevant due to specific reasons, cathode protection that allows for constant efficiency control must be provided.

Section 6. Pipelines shall be equipped with safety devices protecting the lines, when in use and when idle, from being exposed to a higher than pressure than that for which they were designed.

Section 7. Pipelines must be equipped with isolation and cut-off devices in order to ensure that the lines at any time can be taken out of service quickly and safely. The number and nature of the devices shall be determined according to operating and site conditions.

Section 8. Pipelines must be equipped with pressure gauges that constantly measure, display and register pressure in relevant locations. Measurements shall be displayed in Pa or bar.

Subsection 2. Furthermore, the pipelines shall be equipped with mountings and equipment that indicate the occurrence of abnormal circumstances.

Section 9. With regard to wells, compressor plants, regulation stations, storage facilities and other locations where gas accumulations may occur, measures shall be taken against the risk of explosion, such as effective vent holes or, if necessary, artificial ventilation.

Section 10. The installations must be provided with control centres where the displays necessary to the operation and control of the installations can be monitored, and from where the necessary measures can be taken in case of anomalies.

Specific provisions on operation, inspection, etc.

Section 11. For the operation of natural gas installations, only people having completed an education qualifying them to perform the work in question shall be employed to do so.

Section 12. For each installation written instructions for the operating staff regarding the operation and periodic inspections of the installation must be available. Such instruction must be in Danish and must be easily accessible to the operating staff.

Subsection 2. In addition, operation staff shall receive thorough oral instructions on and training in what is required for the on-going monitoring of the installation and periodic inspection of the lines, and concerning which precautions must be taken with regard to operation, repair and maintenance in extraordinary situations.

Section 13. The results of the periodic inspections and information on all irregularities shall be recorded in registers, which are kept easily accessible to the relevant operating staff and the Danish Working Environment Authority.

Section 14. In case of any damage to an installation, appropriate measures must be taken immediately in order to address the risk of accidents, and the Danish Working Environment Authorities must be notified, if relevant, cf. Section 16. Chapter 3 - Approval and supervision by the Danish Working Environment Authority Section 16.

Chapter 3 The Requirement for Statutory Approval

Section 15. For natural gas installations or parts hereof with an operating pressure higher than 0.1 bar, the following items must be approved by the Danish Working Environment Authority:

  1. Constructional design of all pressure bearing components of the installation. The application for approval shall include the constructional design drawings and calculations as well as information on which materials will be used, which type of weld will be applied and how construction will be monitored.
  2. Measures to be taken to meet the requirements of Sections 5-10. The application for approval shall include information regarding the precise nature of the measures including quantitative and location information.
  3. The construction of pressure bearing components in accordance with the construction approval, cf. point 1, above. The nature and extent of the control to be carried out as basis for this construction will be specified in the construction approval.
  4. The written instruction in accordance with Section 12, subsection 1. The submission of the written instruction shall be accompanied by information on the continuous monitoring and periodic inspections of the installation as well as information on the required training of staff, and other ways of keeping staff updated on the operation, the monitoring and the inspection of the installation.
  5. Registers in accordance with Section 13. The application for approval shall include information on the arrangement, location and storing of these registers.

Subsection 2. Approval according to subsection 1, No. 1 and No. 2 shall be obtained prior to any construction, alteration or significant repairs of the relevant components. Approval according to subsection 1, Nos. 3-5, shall be obtained prior to the starting up of the installation.

Subsection 3. The Director General of the Danish Working Environment Authority may approve one or several supervisory bodies for carrying out technical tests pursuant to this Order.

Subsection 4. The Director General of the Danish Working Environment Authority may allow for approvals pursuant to subsection 1, Nos. 1-5, to be replaced by internal inspection through the applicant, provided that this inspection is performed in accordance with a quality assurance system which meets recognised standards, cf. Section 2, subsection 3, and provided that the Danish Working Environment Authority deems it to provide sufficient assurance of conformity with the safety provisions of this Order. In order for the applicant to be allowed to perform internal inspection it is required that the establishment, maintenance and testing of the quality assurance system be supervised by a person possessing the required competence and position within the company’s organisation.


Subsection 5. Permission to perform internal inspection is granted for a period of 5 years. Permits may be revoked in case of disregard for the conditions of the permit, or if necessary for safety reasons.

Section 16. Any damage to installations covered by Section 15 which can not immediately be repaired and which compromises the safety of the installation must be reported to the Danish Working Environment Authority.

Subsection 2. If the damage repair involves the use of calculation methods, materials, procedures etc. which are not included in the approval granted in accordance with Section 15, the installation shall not become operational until approved by the Danish Working Environment Authority.

Section 17. The Danish Working Environment Authority shall ensure compliance with this Order and the requirements, set out hereunder, to the arrangement, operation, inspection etc. of the installations in accordance with Chapter 13 of the Working Environment Act.

Subsection 2. When conducting examinations, tests or surveys, the Director General of the Danish Working Environment Authority may seek assistance from other experts.

Subsection 3. To the extent that technical tests are conducted by supervisory bodies, authorisation hereof shall be granted pursuant to the Act on a Government Testing Commission (lov om Statens Tekniske Prøvenævn).

Section 18. The Director General of the Danish Working Environment Authority may determine that the tasks of the Working Environment Authority, pursuant to this Order, to a specified extent, be transferred to another public authority or private institution.

Section 19. Approval and supervision under this Order do not provide exemption from approval and supervision laid down in other legislation.

Chapter 4 - Fees

Section 20. For examinations carried out by the Danish Working Environment Authority concerning applications for construction approval pursuant to Section 15, subsection 1, No. 1 and No. 2, the applicant shall be charged a fee of DKK 1,180. For examinations exceeding 2 hours, the applicant shall be charged a fee of DKK 590 per started hour.

Subsection 2. This fee is payable regardless of whether or not permission is granted.

Subsection 3. For examinations carried out by the Working Environment Authority concerning applications for permission to perform internal inspection pursuant to Section 15, subsection 4, the applicant shall be charged a fee of DKK 7,600.

Section 21. If staff members of the Danish Working Environment Authority are required to undertake journeys or to stay outside of the workplace in order to carry out examinations according to Section 15, cf. Section 17, all associated expenses shall be paid by the applicant. Invoicing shall take place in accordance with the provisions on business travel in Denmark and abroad established by the Ministry of Finance.

Subsection 2. Payment shall be charged by order of the Danish Working Environment Authority.

Chapter 5. Dispensation, complaint, penalty and entry into force

Section 22.

The Director General of the Danish Working Environment Authority may allow deviations from the provisions of this Order under circumstances which are deemed reasonable and proper.

Section 23. Decisions made pursuant to this Order may be appealed under Section 81 of the Danish Working Environment Act.

Section 24. Unless a higher penalty is prescribed under other legislation, imprisonment or fine will be the penalty incurred by anyone who:

  1. infringes Section 2, subsection 1, Sections 3-14, Section 15, subsections 1 and 2, and Section 16;
  2. fails to comply with injunctions or prohibitions announced pursuant to this Order;
  3. disregards the conditions for authorisation pursuant to this Order.

Subsection 2. Employers can be made liable for fines in the event of such an infringement, even though the infringement cannot be attributed to them as deliberate or negligent. No alternative penalty is defined for penalties levied.

Subsection 3. Companies etc. (legal persons) may be may be liable to punishment in accordance with the rules in Chapter 5 of the Penal Code.  

Section 25. This Order shall enter into force on 1 August 1988.

Subsection 2. Effective the same date, Order No. 406 of 18 September 1979, issued by the Ministry of Labour, laying down safety provisions for natural gas installations in accordance with the Working Environment Act, as amended by Order No. 455 of 22 September 1983, shall be repealed.

Ministry of Labour, 8 July 1988

Henning Dyremose/Henrik Grove
 
*) This Order has been notified as a draft pursuant to Directive 98/34/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down a procedure for the provision of information in the field of technical standards and regulations, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC.