CPA1 Assessment – Do we need to prove competence to use a piece of equipment?
03 March 2010
So the Industry’s Standards Setting Body (SSB) has ratified the decision to include the use of a Combustion Analyser as a prerequisite for all engineers who undertake initial, or reassessments, for HTR1 and CEN1, from 1 February 2010. But do we need this assessment, and if so should it be a prerequisite for some of the appliance categories?
Of course the decision to introduce CPA1 has not been universally popular within the industry, with many seeing it as another 'conspiracy' by the ‘controlling powers’ to relieve more revenue from the gas installer.
Without doubt a Combustion Analyser will provide a valuable tool in the 'arsenal' of the gas installer that helps to ensure an appliance is operating correctly and safely. Whether or not the correct use of the analyser to conduct a Combustion Test should be a prerequisite to appliance assessments or not, is in my opinion, not the main argument here.
This is a useful tool, but it is essential that the operator knows how to use his/her own analyser correctly to obtain an accurate reading and more importantly can react correctly to the readings being obtained.
The introduction of the analyser has a parallel with the introduction of the electrical test meter, many years ago. A fairly complex bit of kit to the untrained installer and a piece of kit that provides a reading that determines a particular course of action. When the electrical test meter hit the market it created havoc for a while, as component after component was exchanged, or a system declared safe to work on, 'because the meter said so'. However in some cases the readings provided by the test meter were incorrectly interpreted by the user. During that period the electrical test meter was more of a hindrance than a help.
With the analyser, what is vitally important is that the assessment does exactly what it is intended to do – that is, to check the competence of an individual to be able to carry out a Combustion Test correctly. Hopefully, the certification bodies will put together a fair and robust assessment criteria – a criteria that ensures the candidate has had to 'learn' about his own piece of equipment – how to use it to gain an accurate sample, and more importantly has the knowledge to transfer the analyser reading to the correct course of action.
The worst case scenario is that the assessment merely checks the operative’s ability to check a few boxes on a pretend scenario and answers a few written questions. Yes, human nature will dictate that any candidate, no matter what the test or assessment is about, wants an easy ride – but we do ourselves, our industry, and our customers no favours if we don’t get this assessment criteria and procedure right.
The rights and wrongs of where the CPA1 assessment 'sits' in the ACS framework I will leave to the 'experts' to argue about and decide. What is paramount is that the CPA1 assessment dictates that any training, self study material, or user’s manual contribute in the right way to ensuring the analyser is understood, correctly used, and the results are interpreted correctly.
Please feel free to have your say by voting on our current members poll.
