What Is Classified Technical Equipment (VTZ) and How Is It Divided into Groups?

19. August 2026•E.I.C.Engineering inspection company s.r.o.

Laws and standards

A compressor in the workshop, a gas boiler room, an overhead crane, the electrical installation of a production hall. During an audit or a labour inspection, the question comes up sooner or later: is this piece of equipment “classified technical equipment”? And does the operator have everything in place for it?

Classified technical equipment (in Slovak: vyhradené technické zariadenia, VTZ) is pressure, lifting, electrical and gas equipment that Slovak Decree No. 508/2009 Coll. classifies into group A or group B according to the level of risk. Equipment in group C is not considered classified technical equipment.

The question “is it classified technical equipment?” is not an administrative detail. The classification determines which inspections and tests must be carried out, who is allowed to perform them and what professional competence the operating and maintenance personnel must hold. This article explains where classified technical equipment is defined, how the classification into groups works and what it means in practice.

Where is classified technical equipment defined?

The legal basis is Act No. 124/2006 Coll. on occupational health and safety, which obliges every employer to ensure that the safety condition of technical equipment is checked. The details are laid down in implementing Decree No. 508/2009 Coll.

The decree covers four types of technical equipment: pressure, lifting, electrical and gas equipment. Their individual kinds and classification into groups are set out in Annex No. 1 of the decree, which is divided into four parts: I. pressure equipment, II. lifting equipment, III. electrical equipment and IV. gas equipment.

How is technical equipment classified into groups A, B and C?

Under Section 4(1) of Decree No. 508/2009 Coll., technical equipment is divided into three groups according to the level of risk:

Group	Level of risk	Is it classified technical equipment?
A	high	yes
B	higher	yes
C	lower	no

Under Section 4(2) of the decree, technical equipment of group A and group B is considered classified technical equipment. Group C is a category covering equipment of a given type that does not reach the technical parameters of groups A and B.

The logic is simple: the more serious the consequences a failure of the equipment could have for human life and health, the stricter the safety verification regime that applies to it.

What equipment counts as classified? Examples by type

The table below gives typical examples from Annex No. 1 of the decree. It is not an exhaustive list. What always matters is the exact wording of the annex and the actual parameters of the specific equipment.

Type	Group A (high level of risk)	Group B (higher level of risk)
Pressure	steam and fluid boilers of Classes I to IV, stationary pressure vessels containing dangerous substances and expansion vessels with higher parameters	boilers of Class V and smaller stationary pressure vessels, for example compressor air receivers or expansion vessels with lower parameters
Lifting	cranes and hoists with an electric drive and a load capacity above 1,000 kg, passenger lifts and goods-passenger lifts, mobile working platforms with a lifting height above 1.5 m, escalators and moving walkways, ski lifts	cranes and hoists with an electric drive and a load capacity up to and including 1,000 kg, lifting mechanisms of trucks, lifting ramps and platforms, vehicle service lifts
Electrical	high-output equipment for the generation and transformation of electricity, electrical networks above 1,000 V AC, installations in explosion-hazardous areas, in healthcare premises and in premises intended for gatherings of more than 250 persons	electrical equipment not classified in group A with current or voltage that is not safe. In practice, these are ordinary electrical installations in buildings and industrial facilities
Gas	gas holders and storage tanks with a volume above 100 m³, gas regulating stations on distribution pipelines, gas distribution with a pressure above 0.4 MPa, acetylene pipelines, burners with an output above 0.5 MW, refrigeration circuits containing more than 25 kg of dangerous gas	equipment with lower parameters. Typically building and industrial gas distribution up to 0.4 MPa, gas boiler rooms and appliances with an output from 5 kW to 0.5 MW

It is worth noting that classified technical equipment also includes items companies often do not think of as “classified”, for example a vertical sliding gate with a lifting height above 2.7 m, a compressor air receiver or the electrical installation of an office building.

What does the classification mean for the operator?

The group determines the safety verification regime throughout the equipment’s life cycle:

Group A – the strictest regime. Before the equipment is put into operation, its safety is usually verified by an official test carried out by an authorised legal entity (OPO). During operation, repeated official tests follow at regular intervals. In addition, expert inspections and expert tests are performed by a technical inspector within the periods set by the annexes to the decree.
Group B – safety is verified mainly by expert inspections and expert tests carried out by a technical inspector at the prescribed intervals. For certain specific kinds of equipment, official tests are required as well.
Group C – the equipment is not classified, so official tests and expert inspections under the decree do not apply to it. The obligations do not disappear, however. Act No. 124/2006 Coll. still requires every work equipment to be kept in a safe condition and checked in line with the manufacturer’s instructions.

Classified technical equipment is also linked to the professional competence of persons for its operation, repair and inspection. Pursuant to Section 16 of Act No. 124/2006 Coll., a certification or licence is required to perform these activities.

The classification does not change the essential point, which is that responsibility for safe operation always rests with the operator. Neither an official test nor an inspection report transfers it to the authorised legal entity or the technical inspector. The results of these checks are a basis for the operator’s further decisions.

How to check the classification of your own equipment?

In practice, the classification of equipment into groups and the keeping of records of classified technical equipment are almost always handled by the operator’s safety technician (in Slovak: bezpečnostný technik), often in cooperation with a technical inspector. The procedure itself is straightforward:

List your technical equipment – pressure, lifting, electrical and gas.
Establish the parameters – from the rating plate and the accompanying documentation: pressure, volume, load capacity, voltage, output, type of medium and the type of environment in which the equipment operates.
Compare them with Annex No. 1 of Decree No. 508/2009 Coll. and assign group A, B or C to each item.
Assign the periods and obligations – expert inspections, expert tests and, for group A, official tests as well.

The help of an inspector makes sense above all in borderline cases, where the parameters of the equipment sit close to the threshold between groups, where sets of equipment form part of one technology, where the equipment is older, or where an independent check is needed to confirm that the records match the actual state of the operation. It is precisely in such situations that we repeatedly come across equipment that is missing from the records or incorrectly classified during our inspection work.

Conclusion

Under Decree No. 508/2009 Coll., classified technical equipment is pressure, lifting, electrical and gas equipment of groups A and B. It is equipment whose failure would have serious consequences, and which is therefore subject to a prescribed regime of inspections and tests. Correct classification of equipment into groups is the first step of any functional technical equipment management system.