Key takeaway
What This Development Means
The Health and Safety Executive has concluded that the evidence does not justify reforming the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000. Existing duties remain unchanged, while HSE plans clearer guidance on scope, competence, hire arrangements and overlapping regimes.
Is HSE Changing The Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000?
No. HSE concluded that the call for evidence did not establish a proportionate case for legislative reform. PSSR remains in force unchanged. HSE will seek opportunities to clarify interpretation and support compliance through updated guidance.
Does The Review Remove Hydrogen Systems From PSSR?
No. HSE states that hydrogen at 0.5 bar and above is already a relevant fluid under PSSR. Dutyholders must continue controlling stored-energy, fire and explosion risks through safe limits, maintenance, risk assessment and written examination schemes where required.
Source basis: Health and Safety Executive, formal response to the PSSR call for evidence (29 September 2026)
Pressure Systems Safety Regulations Review Ends Without Reform
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has decided not to pursue legislative reform following its review of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000. The formal response, published on 29 September 2026, says the evidence did not show that amendments would reduce burdens without undermining safety or deliver benefits that exceeded disruption and transition costs.
The six-week call for evidence produced 109 responses. Of respondents, 69% said the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR) remained fit for purpose, 59% considered them non-duplicative and 64% said the Approved Code of Practice remained fit for purpose. HSE found that most difficulties concerned interpretation and application rather than defects in the legislation.
This is a final review outcome, not a consultation or amendment. No proposed legislative change remains open. Existing duties, scope, exemptions and enforcement arrangements continue without a transition period.
Written Schemes And 28-Day Reporting Remain Unchanged
PSSR protects people from stored-energy failures in pressure systems used at work. Dutyholders must continue establishing safe operating limits, maintaining equipment and implementing a written scheme of examination where required. A competent person can set suitable risk-based examination intervals under that scheme.
HSE will not amend Regulation 9 at this stage. Its response says the next inspection date must be set within 28 days after completion of the final examination in a series. Regulation 9(7) retains limited flexibility for a one-time postponement by agreement. No evidence justified changing the reporting framework for larger or more complex plants.
Current scope distinctions also remain. A pipeline used only to transport substances between sites is regulated under dedicated pipeline legislation. Relevant-fluid pipework within workplace premises forms part of a PSSR pressure system and remains subject to the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.
Hydrogen systems are already covered where hydrogen at 0.5 bar or above is a relevant fluid. Risk assessments must address hazards including fire and explosion. The outcome creates no new substance restriction or product threshold for steam, gases, liquids, hydrogen or carbon dioxide systems.
HSE Will Clarify Overlapping Responsibilities Through Guidance
Future work will focus on guidance rather than legislation. HSE plans to clarify definitions, competence expectations, examination intervals, lease and hire responsibilities, mobile versus installed equipment and the boundary between PSSR and the Pressure Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 (PESR).
The response explains that manufacturing pressure equipment generally brings PESR conformity-assessment and documentation duties into play, subject to limited exceptions. Certified equipment assembled on site by a user for internal use must instead be managed under PSSR, including a written scheme of examination.
Manufacturers, site operators and equipment owners should keep current controls in place and document which regime applies to manufacture, assembly and use. Lessors and hirers should state any written transfer of PSSR responsibility clearly. Competent-person appointments and examination intervals should be defensible from system risk rather than copied from generic schedules.
HSE has rejected deregulation but acknowledged avoidable cost from inconsistent interpretation. Businesses are therefore more likely to find efficiency through clearer ownership and coordinated maintenance and examination planning than by anticipating statutory relief. The continuing duties also keep pressure-system failures firmly within process safety management, as shown by recent enforcement after a dangerous steam release.
Summary
Dutyholders should recheck pressure-system inventories, written schemes, Regulation 9 reporting and hire contracts. They should monitor HSE guidance for future clarification rather than plan for a change in the law.
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