HSE Consults on New Gas
Safety Body
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has
started a consultation exercise following an application from
the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers
(NAPIT) to set up a new gas safety registration body.
The application
will be assessed against well-established criteria for evaluating
a new registration body developed by HSE. To date,
CORGI has been the only successful applicant for the role. HSE
is actively consulting key stakeholders, looking at the pros
and cons of two services existing for consumers and the domestic
gas industry.
HSE will be assessing whether NAPIT will be
able to meet the following criteria:
- To register efficiently any business
that comes within the scope of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use)
Regulations 1998 and to promote the need for registration
- To
ensure that businesses entering or remaining on the register
are able to demonstrate their competence to undertake safe
gas work
- To positively promote the use of registered
businesses by the public and thoroughly investigate all complaints
alleging
unsafe
workmanship
- To establish, maintain or improve standards
for gas work that contribute to gas safety and monitor the
continuing competence
of registered businesses and individual operatives.
NAPIT already
runs a successful competent persons scheme for electricity, and
was recently authorised to run schemes in plumbing,
heating and ventilation. Bruce Allen, registration and development
director for NAPIT, spent several years at CORGI in the role
of registration manager, and NAPIT has also recently appointed
former CORGI chief executive, Bob Henry, as a non-executive director.
Bruce
said: “More often than not, tradespeople operate
across a number of disciplines and, therefore, having a one stop
solution for heating, including gas and oil, electrical, plumbing
and ventilation seems sensible. But having only one organisation
being able to offer that because of their monopoly on gas seems
fundamentally flawed, and we believe that the introduction of
competition is healthy for the marketplace.
"We want to use our experience to make
the NAPIT scheme as easy for tradespeople as possible. Nothing
will change in terms of
the gas qualifications required – it will still be the
ACS and UKAS system of accreditation, but the key difference
is being able to offer an alternative to CORGI for those who
want one.’
Tim Otteridge, managing director of CORGI,
said: “The
option of other organisations applying to the HSE to run a gas
registration
scheme has always been there. However, I am surprised and disappointed
that the HSE has decided to take this step while in the process
of undertaking a wide-ranging review into gas safety, which includes
looking at the registration scheme and whether there should be
more than one provider.
“
We are committed to any moves that improve gas safety and we
are actively engaging in debate of options for change, but we
fundamentally believe that consumer safety will be detrimentally
affected by the introduction of more than one gas registration
scheme. For this reason, we are vehemently opposed to the introduction
of additional gas registration schemes, as it will create confusion
for gas consumers, make it easier for illegal installers to operate
and increase costs for registered installers.”
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2006 News
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