Searching for medical gas systems, medical gas installation or medical gas services? You may well be in the right place. Here's how to tell.
Medical gas systems and laboratory gas systems are distinct, but both may fall within the scope of the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR 2000). Medical gas pipeline systems that supply gases for patient care are also subject to the relevant Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) requirements for healthcare premises.
Laboratory gas systems supply analytical instruments and research equipment and are designed and installed in accordance with the relevant BCGA Codes of Practice. Speck & Burke specialises in laboratory gas systems and does not work with hospital theatre gases or clinical gas supplies.
The confusion is widespread, often caused by the people drawing up specifications - architects, building contractors and project managers who assume anything going into a science or laboratory space must be "medical."
It tends to come up in situations like these:
Building contractor labelled your gas system as medical on plans
Searching for a medical gas installer for a pharma or research lab
Tender documents reference medical gas piping but the end use is instrumentation
Lab is in a hospital building but gas doesn't contact patients
Working in cancer research or clinical science and unsure which category applies
Facilities manager trying to establish which regulations apply to your site
If the gas is going into a GC, an HPLC, a mass spec, or any other analytical instrument, it's a laboratory gas system, not a medical gas system.
The question isn't where your lab is located. It's what the gas is used for. If it feeds instrumentation rather than patients HTM standards are not likely to apply. You're likely in the right place if any of these apply:
Gas goes to analytical equipment, not to clinical use
Cylinders stored in an external cage with fixed pipework
Gases include nitrogen, hydrogen, argon, helium, oxygen, carbon dioxide or compressed air
Work involves GC, HPLC, mass spectrometry or similar instrumentation
Lab is in a hospital but the work is research, not treatment
Not sure which applies? A quick conversation is usually all it takes to find out.
Most people searching for medical gas terms for lab work have been given the wrong label.
If you have a fixed gas installation with cylinders, external pipework and in-lab supply lines, compliance responsibility sits with you as the owner or user of that system. PSSR 2000 requires a written scheme of examination, annual inspections, documented technical compliance records, and safe systems of work for anyone operating the system. Certification of competence for your engineers and staff is part of that picture. As the responsible person, that typically means:
Ensuring a written scheme of examination is in place
Annual inspection and verification against that scheme by a competent person
Replacing out-of-date components before they expire
Keeping records that demonstrate compliance over time
Understanding what is and isn't covered by your gas supplier's responsibility
Gas components last for years but carry a five-year expiry.
A lab can run day-to-day without any visible sign of a problem right up to the point something fails or an inspection is triggered. At that stage, the absence of a written scheme, overdue inspections, or expired components creates a legal and insurance exposure that wasn't visible until it was.
The first step is working out what you actually have. A site visit answers this quickly. From there, the process is straightforward:
Confirm whether your system is fixed or mobile
Establish which regulations apply to your specific setup
Get a written scheme of examination put in place if you need one
Book an inspection and verification visit against that scheme annually
It's a lot easier to turn somebody away and say no, this isn't what we do, than to miss out on somebody who actually needed exactly what we offer. Get in touch and we'll tell you in two minutes.
If you've been searching for medical gas installation or medical gas piping services and you're not sure whether you need clinical or laboratory expertise, we can confirm which applies to your setup. Every client gets direct access to an engineer, not a call centre. Most labs searching these terms need laboratory gas compliance support and technical compliance guidance, and that's exactly what we provide across the UK.
If your lab needs a new installation or an existing system needs extending, we design and install laboratory gas systems including cylinder cages, med gas piping routes, in-lab supply lines and all the connections to your instruments.
If you have a fixed laboratory gas system, PSSR 2000 requires annual inspection by a competent person. We carry out inspections, produce compliance reports and flag anything that needs remedial action before it becomes a problem.
PSSR 2000 requires that anyone operating a gas system is adequately trained. We deliver on-site gas safety training for laboratory staff, with practical sessions using your own equipment, validation of competency and a certificate on completion.
For labs where gas systems feed analytical instruments, We also provide instrument servicing. Annual preventive maintenance visits extend equipment life and catch problems before they cause downtime.
A written scheme of examination is the legal document that defines what your gas system should do and what it will be inspected against. As Speck & Burke, we prepare these for new and existing laboratory gas systems.
Medical gas pipeline systems are designed to supply gases directly to patients in clinical settings, built to Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) standards. A laboratory gas pipeline system supplies analytical instruments and research equipment. The physical pipework in both can look similar, but the regulatory frameworks, inspection and verification requirements, and installer qualifications differ. If your gas feeds instruments rather than people, you need a laboratory gas specialist.
Some may, but the two are not the same discipline. A medical gas installer qualified to work on hospital pipeline systems may have no experience of the instrumentation at the end of a laboratory gas system. Our engineers understand the instruments the gas feeds, which affects everything from pipe sizing and pressure specification through to material selection.
Yes. The determining factor is what the gas is used for, not where the building is. A research or analytical lab inside a hospital building, where gas goes to GCs, HPLCs or other instrumentation, operates a laboratory gas system.
This happens regularly, particularly when architects or building contractors have drawn up specifications without specialist input. Get in touch with us before committing to a specification. If the gas is going to laboratory instrumentation, the correct term is laboratory gas installation, and the compliance route is PSSR 2000, not medical gas standards.
No. PSSR 2000 (the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000) applies to all pressurised systems, including laboratory gas systems, wherever cylinders and fixed pipework are in use. Medical gas systems in clinical settings follow Health Technical Memoranda, a separate area of healthcare engineering with its own products, standards and installer qualifications, not relevant to laboratory gas compliance.
We offer a free site survey with no obligation. An engineer visits your site, assesses your existing setup, and confirms what you have and what, if anything, you're required to do under PSSR 2000. Clear communication throughout means you leave with a straightforward answer, not more questions. It's the quickest way to get clarity.
Get in touch with us for a no-obligation conversation, and we'll confirm which applies to your setup within minutes.
Call now on 01259 222 600.
