Incidents and Unsafe Conditions

For emergency assistance call 911 or your local police or fire department directly.

Incidents and hazards are to be reported to Inspection and Technical Services (ITS) by emailing bpvintake@gov.mb.ca with the subject line "Incident/Hazard Report"

Definitions

Incident: A failure of a regulated product, work or operation that causes:

    • damage to property, personal injury or death
    • damage to safety devices

Safety device: An aspect of a product's design, installation, maintenance or operation that is intended to prevent people or property from being exposed to a hazard.

Hazard: A source of potential harm to persons or potential damage to property.

Reporting of incidents to ITS

The following individuals or responsible parties are required to report all incidents and hazards to ITS:

  • Person in charge of a regulated product or regulated work
  • Owner of the regulated product
  • Permit holder
  • Person authorized to perform or performing regulated work (Certificate of Authorization holder)
  • Person authorized to operate or operating a regulated product (power engineers)
  • Owner of a plant

Only one incident report per incident is required.

Reporting of hazards to ITS

Hazards are required to be prevented or immediately corrected by the parties that are responsible for the regulated product, work or operation. Hazards must be immediately reported to ITS when:

  • it is not known that the hazard is being corrected or
  • the same or similar hazards have been repeatedly observed and are associated with the same responsible party.

What to expect after reporting an incident or hazard to ITS

ITS tracks incidents and hazards that are reported to inform awareness and prevention initiatives. Consequently, ITS does not explore all reported incidents and may not follow-up with a notification unless there is an intention to further explore.

BPV incidents that are required to be reported:

  • Pressure boundary failures (including the activation of pressure relief devices) that discharge hazardous contents into an occupied space or the environment
  • Weld failure
  • Material failure
  • Seal failure
  • Malfunctioning safety controls discovered outside of planned maintenance
  • Inoperative pressure relief devices discovered outside of planned maintenance

Note: Hazardous substances are those that if released

    • and a person came into contact, the person would likely sustain an injury.
    • and not contained, would likely damage the natural environment.

BPV occurrences that are not reportable incidents

  • Piping leak of hot water outside of a combustion chamber
  • Leak of non-hazardous substances at a seal or connection
  • Defects discovered as part of planned maintenance
  • Damage/leaks acceptable to a maintenance program or plan
  • Occurrences involving equipment that is not subject to the Steam and Pressure Plants Act and Regulation
  • Vessels that are vented to atmosphere or
  • Vessels that are operating at pressures less than 15psi and protected by a pressure relief devices set at or below 15psi

Examples of BPV hazards that should be reported to ITS

  • Unrepairable or unserviceable equipment that is in use or available for use
  • Pressure retaining components damaged or corroded beyond (or suspected of) design limits
  • Regulated BPV work being completed by a company that does not hold of valid Certificate of Authorization (CofA) or working outside the scope of their certificate.
  • Gas or Oil-Fired Boilers installed without a valid Gas or Oil permit.
  • Operation of a plant without a valid operating certificate
  • Operation of plant without the required supervision
  • Concerns related to supervision