Overview and Objectives of the Scheme

This scheme seeks to raise standards in membrane inspection, verification and reporting and provide all stakeholders involved in land contamination management with enough confidence that risks associated with ground gases have been adequately managed.  

This scheme does not specifically address damage of membranes from follow on trades as this is outside the remit of the scheme, however, risk of damage to installations is considered as part of the verification process and management procedures. Failures of membranes and repairs to the membrane remain the responsibility and liability of the membrane installing contractor and not with the verifier.

The scheme applies to both the practical installation of the gas mitigation measures and to the verification reporting process. Thus, recognising different personnel often undertake the installation work to the reporting, there are two separate accreditation routes to demonstrate competence in the installation and the verification design, preparation of method statements and verification reporting. The two levels of accreditation available are: ‘Technician’ and ‘Specialist’:

• Technician level of accreditation (TGPV) is intended for field technicians who confine their work to inspections and do not prepare verification design or method statements (although they will follow ones prepared by others) and do not prepare validation reports (although they do prepare field records that form part of the validation report)
• Specialist level of accreditation (SGPV) applies to those involved in the whole range of gas protection verification including design of the verification, preparation of method statements, inspections and preparation of validation reports.

The competencies required for each accreditation route are detailed in Table 2 and are split into two categories; knowledge and understanding and the practical skills.

The objective of the Gas Protection Verification Scheme (GPVS) is to ensure that the gas protection verification part of land contamination management meets the necessary technical and regulatory standards. The specific aims of the scheme are to:

1. Increase the knowledge of gas mitigation verification across the industry
2. Provide a list of competent individuals who prepare method statements, undertake the inspection of gas protection measures and prepare the validation reports
3. Complement the NQMS by providing a process by which competency in gas protection verification can be demonstrated.

The scheme is voluntary and thus the procedure is simple, and costs will be kept as low as possible (but enough to cover its running costs including auditing). It has been designed to operate alongside and within existing quality management schemes such as the NQMS. Competencies of individuals can be demonstrated in several ways such as if people are in possession of the NVQ Level 4 Diploma in Verification of Ground Gas Protection Systems that has been designed by the British Verification Council and administered by the Property Care Association. This qualification will be recognised against a number of the key practical competencies that are required. Alternatively, people will be able to demonstrate their competencies through demonstration of experience.

The scheme is an accreditation scheme for individuals and does not apply to companies.