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Transportable pressure equipment - overview

The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009

Legislation

The Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009 have fully updated the legislation which effectively implements the requirements of the European agreement concerning the carriage of dangerous goods (ADR).  The Department for Transport (DfT) is the UK "Competent Authority" and the Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) administers the system for the appointment of bodies for the conformity assessment and periodic inspection of Transportable Pressure Equipment.

A list of appointed bodies is published on the VCA web site and enquiries on the appointment of bodies should now be directed to VCA.

Obsolete design standards and specifications

HSE maintains the list of obsolete standards and specifications[1] (sometimes called "Technical codes").  Equipment made to those standards and specifications may continue to be used in Great Britain as long as it subject to a proper test and inspection regime.
NB:  That information is provided here for reference purposes and as an aid in Periodic Examination. Those standards and specifications must not be used for manufacture of new Transportable Pressure Equipment.

Approved Design Standards and Specifications

Current standards[2] for the manufacture of Transportable Pressure Equipment may be found in part 6 of ADR[3] as updated from time to time. 

Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive

Information on the Transportable Pressure Equipment Directive (known as TPED) may be found on the European Commission web site.

Contact details

  • For day to day operational issues related to safety of Transportable Pressure Equipment contact your nearest HSE office[4].  
  • For information on policy issues relating to the safety of TPE and information on the appointment of bodies, please contact VCA

Link URLs in this page

  1. obsolete standards and specificationshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/cdg/stdobso.htm
  2. Current standardshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/cdg/stdcurr.htm
  3. ADRhttp://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/adr/adr2017/17contentse0.html
  4. your nearest HSE officehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/contact/maps/index.htm
  5. HSE's enforcement policyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hse41.pdf
  6. Working safely with acetylenehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg327.htm
  7. UNECE - ADR 2017https://unece.org/adr-2017-files
  8. Providing effective regulation of freight transporthttps://www.gov.uk/government/policies/providing-effective-regulation-of-freight-transport/supporting-pages/secure-carriage-of-dangerous-goods-by-road-and-rail
  9. Department for Transporthttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/transporting-dangerous-goods
  10. Logisticshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/logistics/index.htm
  11. Portshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/ports/index.htm
  12. Road safetyhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/roadsafety/index.htm
  13. Workplace transporthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/workplacetransport/index.htm

Glossary of abbreviations/acronyms on this page

UNECE
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe

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Updated 2025-02-12