Transporting compressed air

[frosties]

Can anyone confirm the legality point of view relating to the transportation of air bottles that are charged with ANY air... Do we require compressed air symbols etc as I was talking to a mate in the firebrigade who said we would get a kicking from them if in an RTA, they found our bottles with no marking on the vehicles.

If your car caught fire, they may aparrently not put it out, but let it burn out because of the compressed air. something to do with safety!?!

thanks

t.

[Dark Warrior]

From the BSAC Website



BSAC TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS
Information Sheet T.10

BSAC Diving Information - Compressed Gas - Warning Signs

EC legislation now coming into force in UK requires commercial vehicles carrying compressed gases and other hazardous substances, to carry a Hazard Warning sign which emergency services will recognise and make allowances for when dealing with road traffic accidents. For compressed air cylinders, the sign is a green diamond (minimum size 100mm square) with a cylinder symbol and the words Compressed Air.

Amateur divers have asked if there is any legal requirement for them to display such a sign when transporting aqualung cylinders in private cars. BSAC has sought advice from the Health and Safety Executive, and we are assured by an Inspector from the HSE Diving National Interest Group that this legislation applies only to those who are at work, not to those carrying gas cylinders in private cars for recreational purposes.

The legislation is likely to apply to diving school staff / professional recreational diving instructors carrying cylinders in a private car when used for business, but it does not apply to the average diving club member going about their recreational pursuit; nor does anything in the legislation suggest that it might be expanded to include recreational users in future.

Divers might think it socially responsible to display such a sign on their cars when carrying cylinders on the highway - and it would not be illegal to do so - but the legislation states that the sign should be displayed only while cylinders are actually in transit. If there are no cylinders in the car, there should be no sign suggesting that there are. Bearing in mind that the signs are usually in the form of a window sticker, this could be a problem! Furthermore, permanent display of such a sign might invite criminals to break into the car, hoping to find something valuable to steal.

To summarise, HSE have made it clear to BSAC that the legislation does not apply to persons who are not at work, so is not applicable to recreational divers going about their chosen sport.



If this is the case for scuba divers then are we not of significantly less risk

[Bully]

The advice given by Eric is the same as I have been given and therefore would be UKPSF recommendations.

BUT I would "personally" suggest anyone carrying ANY compressed gas bottles should have a hazard sign on their vehicle just incase of an accident. You can get magnet signs. so you can use them when you are carrying dive tanks.

I like most site owners have signs on our vehicles as we carry gases for commercial reasons. I was once stopped at a ferry terminal because of the sign - the bottles I had in the van were empty and the safety officier made me stick a cross in electrical tape over the sign so they knew that I didn't have compressed gases in my van.

Steve

[tommikka]

This does not legally apply to recreational use and fully applies to business use based on the scope of HSE legislation.

There have been recent changes affecting paintball bottles with responsibilities being moved between departments.

(http://www.talkpaintball.com/showthread.php?t=12679)
(http://www.walkonzone.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=10576)


Strictly speaking we should not be privately transporting any bottles containing compressed air, we should empty it at the end of the days games.

It would be 'nice' of us to show a sign when carrying a bottle to or from a game. (Perhaps there would be a sudden spate of paintballers being stopped by the police on a Sunday morning or evening for unlawfully transporting compressed air in a private vehilce/without a licence!)

The intention of displaying signs are for the emergency services to be aware of the situation if an incident occurs, and equally if none are carried or bottles are empty then signs should be removed. Its the same for the dreaded child on board sign. It's not intended as an excuse for drivers to get grumpy when you drive too close behind, it's so the fire man knows that there is a baby somewhere inside the wreck on the motorway.

[Dark Warrior]

Strictly speaking we should not be privately transporting any bottles containing compressed air, we should empty it at the end of the days games.



There is nowhere in the legislation, i've read, that states this.
The nature of scuba diving means that divers must transport full or part full bottles at some time.

The reason BSAC don't recommend the stickers is the fact that joe public are lazy and will not remove the temporary signs when no bottles are carried. If you have a car fire and the brigade get there, I guarantee that as soon as they see the sign in the window, they will decide that it will be safer for them to let the vehicle burn itself out, after moving everybody to a safe distance. Sensible if you have a full bottle in the car, but if you don't watch out, they will not be happy. Also watch out if you have a label in the car, but not displayed, and have an accident whilst carrying compressed air and the emergency services find out.

The choice is yours, there are suction and magnetic labels available from most dive shops, if you are conscientious enough use them.

[Andy-YPC]

We looked into this about 1 year ago.

There are no rules with regard to transporting compressed air for non commercial purposes. So you are fine to take what you want, where you want.

We looked into getting the Green stickers for vehicles to send out with every bottle sold but were advised not to do so for the reasons stated above (sticker is always displayed)

The solution was to display a data sheet on the dashboard of your car which can be put in the glove compartment when you arn't carrying air or Co2.

Data sheets for air and Co2 are available from BOC or any welding suppliers.