Many of us will have just returned from our summer holidays by plane, and will be comforted to know that the pilot up front passed the standard training for an Airline Transport Pilot Licence. The pilot would then have gained a ‘type’ rating specifically for the aircraft type on which you flew, and then have to pass regular re-testing and medicals. Quite reassuring as the pilot reaches V1 on the runway and lifts off from terra firma.
For many years in our industry, standards of how to demonstrate competence using skills, knowledge and experience have been applied. Examples include the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence and Commitment (UK-SPEC)1, published by the Engineering Council. This document, and the supporting guidance, is used daily by professional engineering institutions (PEIs) to assess applicants for registration as chartered engineers, incorporated engineers or engineering technicians.
The publication of the Building Safety Act2 had a far-reaching and necessary impact on our Industry, and includes regulations and requirements around managing competence.
In her Grenfell report, Dame Judith Hackitt found it unacceptable that managers were not assessing the ongoing competence and development of their staff.
Assessing competence by evidencing professional status alone is not sufficient
The regulations include a general requirement that everyone working and maintaining buildings must be competent to do what they do.
To support engineers tasked with demonstrating their competence in a more rigorous way, the Engineering Council, together with PEIs and volunteers, have developed a new, higher-level approach to the competence required for those working on higher-risk buildings (HRBs, as defined in regulations). The role of Accountable Persons and Principal Accountable Persons have been created, and they are responsible for managing safety risks.
UK-SPEC has been amended to form a further publication, The UK-SPEC Contextualised for HRBs3. This is supported by a number of discipline annexes designed to provide specific standards for the various industry roles (in a similar way to the pilot gaining their ‘type rating’).
CIBSE holds a licence to assess engineers against the new HRB standard by including reference to the building services discipline annex3.
The new contextualised registration assessment for engineers presents a real opportunity for those involved in building work on new or existing HRBs. Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations clients already have a legal duty to assure themselves that those they engage on building work are competent to do so.
In my experience, I have had to remind clients that assessing competence by evidencing professional status alone is not sufficient. It is important that clients take into account the specific project for which they are engaging resources, and record how and why they made their decision.
It will be no different for those on the HRB register. It should, after all, be part of our professional duty to identify where clients might be misunderstanding the competency evidence requirements on all projects.
For non-engineers working in the built environment, similar arrangements are in place, managed by their professional bodies. In addition, the British Standard BS 8670 Core criteria for building safety competence frameworks4, supported by Publicly Available Specifications5,6,7 is available for wider industry use.
See CIBSE’s Intoduction to the Building Safety Act course at bit.ly/BStrain
About the author
Vince Arnold FCIBSE is CIBSE President Elect
References:
- UK-SPEC, Engineering Council UK
- The Building Safety Act 2022
- UK-SPEC Contextualised for Higher-Risk Buildings (and discipline annexes), Engineering Council UK
- BS 8670 – Core criteria for building safety competence frameworks
- PAS 8671:2022 Built environment – Framework for competence of individual Principal Designers – Specification
- PAS 8672: 2022 Built environment – Framework for competence of individual Principal Contractors – Specification
- PAS 8673:2022 Built environment – Competence requirements for the management of safety in residential buildings – Specification
