Certification body NICEIC is offering an alternative and more cost-effective route to gaining the necessary competency qualifications required for Gas Safe Registration (GSR). Specifically designed for large firms and firms working together as a cluster in the gas industry, the Group Competency Scheme (GCS) is an alternative route to ACS re-assessment for registration with Gas Safe Register.
GCS gives firms the opportunity to deliver the necessary training, assessment and certification needs for all its employees in line with the individual business needs. This approach could potentially save businesses money and non-productive down time over a five-year period.
At present a business has to maintain GSR registration and training for its employees. This includes gaining a current ACS qualification, which must be reassessed through a third party Assessment Centre every five years.
GCS gives the business the opportunity to manage this process in a controlled manner. The business will have full responsibility for carrying out the training and assessment of employees in-house, all monitored and documented within the business internal quality management systems.
It gives employers flexibility to plan, schedule and deliver the appropriate assessment over a longer timeframe, as opposed to having to satisfy ACS requirements in one short time slot. The GCS assessment of the relevant Matters of Gas Safety (MoGS) can be carried out internally by the business at any point throughout a five year period – without the need to send engineers to an external body.
The GCS scheme has been endorsed by the Industry Standards Setting Body and is fully recognised by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The scheme incorporates the same “matters of gas safety” criteria as ACS and the business is certificated by a UKAS accredited Certification Body following an audit of the business’ GCS management system.
NICEIC is the first UKAS approved certification body that can offer the new Group Competency Scheme. It is accredited against the requirements of BS EN ISO/IEC 17021, which enables it to provide certification against an organisation’s quality management systems.
