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INDUSTRY INSIGHT


Check the scope as well as the registration


An engineer may be Gas Safe registered without being qualified for every category of gas work. The Gas Safe ID card identifies the types of work the engineer is qualified to undertake, while current registration can be checked against the register. For the person authorising the job, the practical questions are simple: is this engineer currently registered, and does their competence cover this work?


Gas competence: why historic


The same principle applies across building services. If a maintenance contractor sends a different engineer, does anything need rechecking? If specialist work is subcontracted, does the original approval still cover the people carrying it out? If a qualification has an expiry date, is it still current? This should not mean repeating the procurement


process before every visit. Checks should be proportionate to the work and its risk.


Make verification part of releasing the job


contractor approval is not enough


A recent HSE gas prosecution is a reminder that competence checks cannot stop when a contractor joins an approved supplier list. For heating and building-services work, clients need to know that the person arriving on site is currently registered, qualified and competent for the job. Josh McNicholas, senior member of the Evalu-8 EHS team, explains


A


contractor can be familiar and previously approved, but that does not answer one important question: is the engineer arriving


today still competent for this work? HSE reported on 6 August that an individual


carried out gas work at two homes in Hampshire during 2021 and 2022 despite not being registered with Gas Safe. Although they had previously been registered, they were removed from the register in 2016 and had not been authorised to undertake gas work since 25 May that year. The case involved domestic customers rather than


a commercial HVAC contract, but it highlights a wider issue for the heating and building-services sector. A contractor may have met every requirement when


they were first approved, but that does not guarantee the same is true months or years later when an engineer turns up on site. Facilities, property and building-services teams


commonly collect insurance documents, qualifications, accreditations, training records and RAMS before placing contractors on approved supplier lists. That evidence is useful, but some of it can change.


Left: Josh McNicholas, senior member of the Evalu-8 EHS team


For safety-critical work, competence verification can form part of the normal work-authorisation process. Before the job starts, the person responsible should know who will carry it out, whether the relevant registration or qualification remains current, whether it covers the task and whether anything has changed since approval. Where a live official register exists, checking it


can provide better evidence than relying only on a certificate uploaded earlier. The records need not be complicated. It should


show what was checked, when it was checked and who confirmed the engineer was suitable for the work. For reputable heating and building-services


contractors, this process should support rather than obstruct good work. Engineers who maintain the correct registrations and qualifications should be straightforward to verify. The problem comes when historic approval is


treated as permanent approval. An approved supplier list remains useful, but


for safety-critical work the more valuable record is the one that shows who arrived, what they were competent to do and what was checked before they started.


Registrations expire or can be withdrawn. Engineers change employers. Qualifications do not always cover every category of work. Different engineers or subcontractors may attend site, and the scope of the job may change. For gas work in workplaces such as shops,


restaurants, schools and hospitals, HSE says the work must be undertaken by a Gas Safe registered engineer who is qualified to carry out that particular work. Employers are also responsible for checking registration and qualifications. That makes the individual engineer, not simply the contractor company, an important part of the check.


A five-step contractor competence check


1. Confirm who is attending Identify the contractor, engineer and any subcontractors. 2. Check registrations and qualifications Make sure all required credentials are current. 3. Match competence to the task Confirm the engineer is qualified for the specific work. 4. Review the job information Check RAMS, permits and site controls still reflect the work. 5. Record the checks Note what was verified, when and by whom.


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