Commercial and workplace bulk LPG installations
Know what the supplier maintains—and what your site must keep safe
A supplier-owned tank does not remove the site operator's duties around access, ventilation, security, vehicle movements, changing surroundings and emergency planning. Confirm the boundary before requesting an inspection or certificate.
The direct answer
Start with the supply contract, then inspect the conditions your business controls
HSE says that in the vast majority of cases the LPG supplier owns the tank and generally looks after the tank and its fittings. The site operator nevertheless controls important risks around the installation. Put both sides in writing instead of treating "supplier-owned" as "nothing for us to do".
Read the contract and records
Identify the tank owner, supplier maintenance scope, fittings covered, emergency number, examinations and any written transfer of pressure-system responsibilities.
Look beyond the vessel
Map buildings, boundaries, drains, vegetation, stored materials, ignition sources, people, vehicles, parking, delivery access, security and impact protection.
Name the output required
State whether you need supplier attendance, gas work, a site review, service-pipework assessment, remedial quotation, risk input or another written record.
This is a preparation and booking guide, not a tank design, separation-distance calculation, hazardous-area classification, written scheme of examination or certificate of compliance.
Six site-user checkpoints
Keep the installation's surroundings consistent with the safe design
Do not let the site grow towards the tank
New walls, sheds, fences, electrical equipment, trees, shrubs, work areas or stored materials can alter a once-acceptable arrangement. Record proposed changes before work begins and ask the supplier or competent specialist to assess them.
Prevent clutter and overgrowth
Keep the area open to natural air movement and free from rubbish, combustible material and vegetation that can reduce ventilation or add fire load. Include the tank compound in routine site checks.
Recognise heavier-than-air vapour
Note drains, gullies, pits, cellars and other low points around the installation. HSE warns that LPG may collect in an untrapped drain or gully; do not decide acceptability without site-specific assessment.
Keep the delivery route usable
Maintain the agreed flat tanker parking area and access route. Before a delivery, remove obstructions and parked vehicles, manage gates and people, and tell the supplier about changes to the site or delivery conditions.
Maintain required fencing, locked gates or valve covers and clear signs. Manage smoking, electrical equipment, parking, fires and other ignition sources near the tank in accordance with the actual site arrangements.
Use protection matched to traffic
Where vehicles may reach the tank or associated pipework, assess physical barriers or bollards for the actual routes and vehicle types. Fencing, paint or road markings alone may not stop an impact.
Tank, pipework and appliances are not one ownership line
Trace responsibility from the tank to the point of use
Ask for the boundary in writing
The supplier may own and maintain the storage tank while the landlord or premises owner owns the service pipework carrying LPG vapour towards the building. Downstream installation pipework, regulators, controls and appliances may sit within other maintenance, gas-work and workplace duties.
Record who owns each section, where the handover points are, what pressure is used, who inspects it, who can isolate it and which emergency number applies. Link this guide to the existing tank-to-factory pipework guide rather than combining two different responsibilities into one certificate.
Delivery-day control
Make safe tanker access a repeatable site process
Check the agreed route and parking area
Confirm gates, height and width restrictions, road condition, turning area, overhead hazards, temporary works, parked vehicles, stored materials and any changed site layout. Tell the supplier rather than asking a driver to improvise.
Control people and site traffic
Keep employees, visitors, customers and unrelated vehicles away from the tank and tanker. Follow the supplier's delivery procedure and the site's ignition-control and emergency arrangements.
Review access before the next delivery
New gates, barriers, charging points, skips, planting, parking bays, drainage, construction work and revised vehicle routes can affect access or risk. Record the change and obtain the appropriate assessment.
Stop and escalate the concern
Damage, a struck barrier, unauthorised entry, blocked emergency access, abnormal smell or unsafe delivery condition should enter the defect and emergency process. Do not wait for the next routine certificate.
Records that make the boundary usable
Keep evidence that joins supplier work to day-to-day site control
Contract, owner and emergency contact
Keep the current supply agreement, tank owner, supplier contact, displayed emergency number, tank identification, capacity, fittings and written allocation of maintenance or examination responsibilities.
Scheme, visits, actions and completion
Retain relevant written scheme and competent-person examination records, supplier service reports, gas-work records, defects, recommendations, due dates and evidence that remedial actions were closed.
Surroundings, security and access
Record routine checks of housekeeping, vegetation, signs, gates, locks, valve cover, physical protection, parking, drains, nearby activities, delivery access and visible damage without opening or disturbing equipment.
Who decides and who responds?
Keep change approvals, risk reviews, emergency plan, evacuation arrangements, staff instruction, drill or incident records and the people authorised to contact the supplier, stop work and prevent reuse.
Leak, damage or fire
Use the supplier's emergency route—not an ordinary certificate enquiry
The supplier's emergency number should be displayed on the tank. Keep people away, avoid ignition sources and follow the site emergency plan. If there is fire, an uncontrolled release, immediate danger or doubt, evacuate and call 999.
Only operate isolation that the emergency plan assigns to trained people and only where it is safe to do so. Do not approach the tank, touch unfamiliar valves, move a vehicle or restore use merely because a smell appears to have stopped. Upkeepone's normal enquiry lines are not an emergency reporting service.
Prepare a usable enquiry
Send the supplier boundary, site layout and required output first
"Check our LPG tank" does not reveal whether the issue belongs to the supplier, tank owner, service-pipework owner, gas installation, appliance, landlord or workplace risk system. These details help identify the route before any attendance is agreed.
Match the provider to the real task
Tank examination, site risk and gas work can need different competence
The tank supplier or pressure-system competent person may cover the vessel and specified fittings. A suitably competent specialist may be needed for site design, impact protection, DSEAR or process risks. Where the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations apply, gas work must use a Gas Safe registered business and an engineer whose current categories cover the exact LPG work, appliance and premises.
Some factories, agricultural premises and industrial processes sit outside parts of the domestic-style gas regulations and can require a different competent-person route. Ask the proposed provider to state its precise scope, limitations, competence evidence and written output.
Continue with the closest route
Choose the issue—not a catch-all certificate
Primary UK sources
Check current tank, pipework and competence guidance at source
HSE: LPG legal frameworkRisk assessment, pressure systems, work equipment, dangerous substances and the scope of gas-safety legislation.
HSE: LPG service pipeworkOwnership, route, protection, inspection, maintenance and the tank-to-building boundary.
HSE: safe use of commercial LPG installationsThe complete workplace LPG route covering tanks, service pipework, valves and supply.
Liquid Gas UK: Codes of Practice listCurrent industry codes, including the Code of Practice 1 series for bulk LPG storage at fixed installations.
HSE: check Gas Safe registrationVerify the business, engineer identity and qualifications for the proposed gas work.
Business LPG enquiries
Send the postcode before attendance is assumed
Bulk-tank enquiries are handled regularly in London, Essex and Kent. Hertfordshire, Surrey, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Sussex can be considered when a suitable LPG trade is available and the requested work sits outside any supplier-owned tank responsibility. Other UK locations are considered by request after the supplier and ownership boundary, vessel arrangement, delivery access, downstream installation, site risks and required written output are clear. Upkeepone's enquiry review does not replace the LPG supplier's tank examination, maintenance or site instructions.
Check current feedback before sending the site information
Read Upkeepone's live Google results in their original context, then send the postcode, business activity, supplier and ownership documents, tank and pipework information, site photographs, delivery arrangements, available records, known concerns and the exact inspection, report or remedial-work output required. Upkeepone can review the enquiry and check the relevant route and current availability.
Ownership, site control and booking questions
Bulk LPG tank site-safety FAQs
Who is responsible for a bulk LPG storage tank at a business?
Does the LPG supplier look after everything around the tank?
Can Upkeepone issue a certificate for a supplier-owned LPG tank?
What should be kept clear around a bulk LPG tank?
Why do drains and gullies matter near an LPG tank?
What does safe LPG tanker access involve?
Are signs and a fence enough to protect an LPG tank from vehicles?
What records should a business keep for a bulk LPG installation?
When should the tank area be reviewed again?
What should we do if we smell LPG or see damage near the tank?
Need the enquiry assessed?
Send the ownership boundary, site conditions, records and required output
Upkeepone can review the information supplied and check whether the requested LPG scope can be routed to an appropriate trade. An enquiry does not confirm availability, compliance, price or that one attendance can cover the supplier's tank, pressure-system examination, service pipework, gas appliances and workplace risk duties.
Suspected LPG leaks, fire or tank damage must follow the supplier or emergency route above.
