Avoid A Part B Audit

Competent Authority Competence Management Audits - Are You Ready?

“A review of major accidents across hazardous industries found that a lack of competence contributed to many of those incidents including the Southall Rail Crash, BP Texas City, Piper Alpha explosion and fire, the Esso Longford Gas plant explosion and Buncefield.” Source: COMAH Competent Authority, Inspection of Competence Management Systems at COMAH Establishments - (Operational Delivery Guide)

You are probably aware that all top tier COMAH sites and a third of tier 2 sites will have their Competence Management System (CMS) subjected to a strategic audit from the Competent Authority (CA) between 2012 and 2015. You are probably also aware that if an operator can demonstrate evidence of a good CMS, then the CA will, in all likelihood, only carry out the more straightforward Part A audit.

If, however, the CA has any reservations about a site’s CMS then a costly and time consuming full Part B audit will be carried out. This being the case, your business needs to be able to answer “YES” to the following questions:

• Have we appointed an Inspector of our Buildings, Structures and Secondary & Tertiary Containment measures?

• Is our Inspector competent in this specialist field?

A lack of a qualified and competent infrastructure inspection person or organisation will probably be identified as a gap in your CMS and could result in failure during a Competent Authority Part A audit. This will lead to a more onerous Part B follow up. Worse still, and more importantly, if you are not carrying out competent inspections of your built infrastructure you are increasing your risk exposure to a serious accident or loss of containment incident.

At Comah Structure Inspections, we can enhance your CMS by allowing you to nominate us as your Competent Body for Built Asset Inspection and Specialist Maintenance. Our credentials in this specialist field are unrivalled and demonstrably compliant with all relevant statutory provisions.

If you would like to find out more on how Comah Structure Inspections can support you during your competence management audit please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Competent Infrastructure Inspection | Managing Ageing Structures | Secondary & Tertiary Containment | Our Credentials | Understanding Ageing Mechanisms