Identification and classification of hazardous production facilities
Scope
This domain tests whether you can identify an HPF from its actual hazards and assign the correct class. Identification is a legal procedure under MES rules, not a site preference. The class determines declaration, expert review, supervision intensity and emergency-planning obligations.
Core rules
- Identification considers hazardous substances, pressure equipment, lifting structures, mining workings, smelting, storage and transport.
- Thresholds in the rules are applied to quantities and conditions, not to nominal capacity alone.
- Classes I-IV run from highest to lowest hazard, based on potential accident scale and consequences.
- The operator documents identification and updates it after reconstruction, expansion or process change.
- The register entry must match the identified class.
Worked example
A workshop installs a pressure vessel above the volume-pressure threshold and a 10-tonne overhead crane. Reasoning: assess each item against the identification criteria. The pressure vessel may bring the site into HPF scope; the crane may also be a regulated lifting structure. Do not classify by staff headcount. Assign class using the rules' consequence and hazard criteria, then register and apply the class-based duties. If the vessel is later replaced with a larger one, re-identify and update the register.
Traps
- Classifying by number of employees or production volume alone.
- Ignoring auxiliary units such as compressors, boilers and fuel farms.
- Failing to re-identify after modification.