When you’re working with potentially dangerous materials or appliances, it’s important to keep you and your customers safe.
You must carry out work to meet the proper standards and legislation.
Competent Person Schemes (CPS) were introduced by the UK Government to allow individuals and enterprises to self-certify that their work complies with the Building Regulations.
You may well have heard of Gas Safe Register for those working with gas appliances or NICEIC and NAPIT for those in the electrical trades - there are lots more.
Traditionally, applications for Building Regulations on installations and renovations were made via a building notice and work carried out was subject to approval by an independent inspector.
The CPS is more flexible.
It speeds up the regulation process and saves your customers the expense of the Building Control fees, normally associated with such work.
What is a Competent Person?
A Competent Person must be registered with a scheme that has been approved by The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
There are many accreditation bodies out there; a lot of them cover various trades, some are more specific.
Which scheme should I join?
- Heating Engineers the three main bodies are Gas Safe Register, HETAS for solid fuels and OFTEC for oil.
- Plumbers might look at APHC, and BESCA, NICEIC, ELECSA and NAPIT.
- Electricians can look for Competent Person Schemes offered by NICEIC, ELECSA and NAPIT .
- The Renewables Sector might look at schemes offered by ELECSA, STROMA, HETAS or OFTEC.
A quick Google search will help you find the relevant provider for you. Schemes authorised by the DCLG are listed on its website at http://www.communities.gov.uk.
These accreditation bodies are supporting contractors in the building services sector and offering customers peace of mind.
If it’s a legal requirement for you to trade, there’s no choice but voluntary membership of a Competent Person Scheme is definitely worth thinking about.
How do I join a Competent Person Scheme?
You need to be approved by one of the accreditation bodies to be accepted on a Competent Persons Scheme. They all have slight variations in their approval processes, but typically, you fill in an online application form and then an assessor will come and carry out an assessment of your work, to ensure you come up to standard. Many of Logic4training’s courses can help you with this process.- GAS ACS courses will help towards your Gas Safe Registration
- Domestic Electrical Installer course will enable you to achieve CPS Registration with NAPIT
- 18th Edition Wiring Regulations training course will also help you achieve CPS Registration with NAPIT
- OFTEC Oil courses will help you achieve registration with OFTEC
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