Ontario Insurance Company Inspectors join TSSA BPV Safety Program Team for a Day of Collaborative Learning

Posted Thursday December 19, 2019

Posted By: Elizabeth Leal

Category: Boilers & Pressure Vessels,Safety Exchange Blog

Apart from statutory holidays, there are only two weekdays of the entire year that Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA) Boilers, Pressure Vessels and Operating Engineers (BPV & OE) inspectors won’t be found out in the field: the days selected for their Annual BPV & OE Offsite Training Seminar.

Organized to keep inspectors abreast of new regulatory and industry-related topics—like the 2019 edition of American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) codes and identifying Canadian Registration Numbers (CRNs) issued by different jurisdictions—the event was extended to some external guests for the first time.

“We invited our insurance company partners who perform BPV inspections to join us for our second day of training,” said Roger Neate, TSSA Interim Director of the BPV & OE Safety Program. “TSSA collects much of the boiler and pressure vessel data that we use to inform public safety initiatives from our insurer partners, so it’s important that we are all on the same page.”  

Without a doubt, collecting and processing data for TSSA has led insurers to reinforce their inspection process with a few extra steps. “These steps are in the right direction,” said Robert Sylvester from Anchor Risk Solutions. “Being able to say where a pressure or boiler vessel is installed in Ontario, and when it was last inspected, is definitely the right way to go.”

During the seminar, insurers were introduced to TSSA’s recently launched Compliance Support Program and asked to keep an eye out for BPV owners and operators who might benefit from the free service that is aimed at devices with higher safety risks. In response to the presentation, Steve Tillie, a Partner at GTT OnSET, said that the program “is definitely a good thing” and “we’ll present it in the future if we see a client that needs it.”

Looking forward, Yan Huang from Royal Sun Alliance Insurance Company of Canada said he would like to see joint training with TSSA and insurers become a regular occurrence. “It’s very important that everybody supports each other,” he added. “For Ontarians’ safety, we can do better, TSSA can do better, and that’s the future we are looking forward to.”