With responsibilities over safety becoming ever more stringent, simply providing practical competence is no longer sufficient. Customers are increasingly demanding evidence of quality management systems as a means of demonstrating compliance with statutory legislation and the CORGI accreditation gives that reassurance as a universally recognised sign of quality.
The CORGI “Quality Gas Safety Management” Accreditation Scheme provides that recognition, demonstrating the achievement of high standards of governance. Currently only available to residential housing providers, it applies to the management and control of gas work. CORGI’s tried and trusted accreditation system has been designed to assess the quality of management systems and arrangements for safe gas work. The accreditation is valid for a maximum of three years with yearly surveillance visits and covers a number of specific areas, the minimum of which are detailed below.:-
– Gas safety management systems (Gas safety policy)
– Specific contractor instructions – specification/SLA (service level agreement)
– Qualifying contractors and operatives
– Uniformity of documentation
– Unsafe situations
– Gas escapes and spillages of fumes
– Gaining access
– Voids
– Mutual exchange
– Quality control
– Storage and retrieval of landlords’ gas safety records
– Dealing with gas-related complaints
All Gas Safety registered installers used by the organisation must hold Public Liability insurance with a minimum of £2 million. For those residential housing providers with internal workforces, here is an overview of what is required to become compliant. CORGI works with organisations to fulfil all of these obligations to achieve Quality Accreditation status.
– Company Ethos – statement from the Chief Executive/Managing Director to confirm the organisations’ commitment to gas safety
– Scope of work – detail the general work activities
– Structure – detail the company’s family tree structure
– Training and qualifications – detail the mechanisms used for control of operatives’ qualifications
– Work allocation – detail how work allocation is controlled
– Supervision and quality control – detail arrangements for when, how and by whom
– Procedures – detail specific procedures for work undertaken (eg engagement of sub-contractors)
– Work documentation – detail the company’s policy for documents to be used
– Technical support – detail how and when technical support will be provided to the engineers
To read the full CORGI News August 2012 please download the pdf:-