Yearly inspection of boilers made mandatory

The government has made annual inspection of boilers mandatory and has directed to re-draft rules for improving their standard and quality, official sources told Business Recorder.
The decision was taken by the Cabinet in its last meeting on the summary submitted by the Ministry of Industries and Production regarding proposed amendments in Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance 2002, which would allow industries to hire boiler engineers without any age limit.
The Prime Minister had observed that neither standard for regulating the use of boilers were available nor their inspections were being carried out regularly. Sources said that one Cabinet members suggested that yearly inspection of boilers should be carried out by Explosives Inspectors, which would minimise accidents.
It was also proposed that professional bodies, both in the public and private sectors, should be involved for the development of standards for improving quality of the boilers. The Prime Minister directed that provincial governments should ensure annual inspection of boilers to avoid accidents causing loss of precious lives.
For this purpose, Minister for Industries and Production Jahangir Khan Tareen was nominated to co-ordinate with the provincial governments, as the subject is on the concurrent list. The Boiler Act 1923 was adopted in 1947 for inspection, certification and registration of new and second-hand boilers.
However, the said Act became obsolete and outdated due to rapid technological development and improvements in the industrial sector. Consequently, Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance, 2002 was promulgated on November 13, 2002, repealing the Boilers Act, 1923.
Under section 6(e) of the Boilers and Pressure Vessels Ordinance, 2002 no owner of boiler can use boiler, or permit it to be used unless it is in the charge of person holding the boilers engineers competency certificate as required under such rules and not more than sixty years old or less than twenty-five years of age. As such, under this provision, the upper and lower limit of age for the employment of boilers engineers have been fixed as 60 years and 25 years, respectively.