Large Business Forum

How the LBF helps to drive up gas safety standards

The Large Business Forum at IGEM represents large businesses but also has a significant number of registered gas engineers. Chair Trevor Smallpeice sets out how the representative body enables businesses to interact, co-operate, share and resolve compliance issues in a non-competitive environment.

The purpose of the LBF is to promote a gas safe environment for everyone, with improved training, guidance and clarity to drive up quality, knowledge and performance. It works within the regulatory framework while applying a common sense approach. Although its main perspective is from that of a large business, its work aims to benefit the whole industry.

The LBF provides legislative and technical advice as well as supporting industry organisations including HSE, Gas Safe Register, the Standards Setting Body, Ofgem and the government, through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

A gas safe environment

It’s for businesses operating primarily in the downstream utilisation sector, discussing engineering, safety and legislative issues that affect those who work with gas in domestic and commercial premises. The LBF works hard to promote an environment that is gas safe and drives a right-first-time working culture within the regulatory framework for the benefit of clients and gas users.

Its members agree to the following principles, which support and underpin participation: • Free of politics and commercial gain of individuals or individual organisations • Be mindful of the regulations that prevent anti-competitive behaviour at all meetings, debates and discussions, both formal and informal • Maintain autonomy while being transparent in its ethics and activities; and be inclusive with integrity • Remain independent of outside influences and exercise a common sense approach to all issues • Robustly promote industry standards and best practice • Enable larger gas businesses to interact, co-operate, share and resolve compliance issues in a non-competitive environment. Regulatory bodies and trade organisations are permanently invited guests and add a unique depth and contribution to the discussions and debates, often offering guidance.

Members of the LBF also have significant member representation or close links to the gas industry standards writers, including IGEM/G/11 – The Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure (GIUSP) – IGEM standards and British Standards, and they comment regularly on Technical Bulletins.

The forum is also involved with the Standards Setting Body (SSB) at Energy and Utility Skills, which sets both the training specification and Nationally Accredited Certification Scheme for Individual Gas Fitting Operatives (ACS) assessment criteria that allow gas engineers to enter the industry and gain Gas Safe registration.

The forum works alongside IGEM and the organisations that operate the UK transmission and distribution network, to create clarity of understanding and agree best practice on many issues, such as low-pressure supply, that are relevant to both the upstream

Large Business Forum

The LBF was founded in 2009 as a way for larger gas businesses to work together and bring a common sense approach to compliance.

In 2015, IGEM provided facilities large enough to accommodate its growth. There is synchronicity between the two because IGEM is the professional engineering institution for gas, supporting individuals and organisations connected with the gas industry.

IGEM does this through technical standards, events, and training that contribute to professional development and brings its members together to share knowledge, expertise and best practice.

Setting the hydrogen agenda

There is a high focus on the strategic importance of hydrogen as a part of the net-zero carbon emissions target. IGEM is working with BEIS, undertaking the assessments needed to underpin a policy decision on 100 per cent hydrogen, and the development of standards linked to a skills framework.

The standards will serve two key purposes and the future study of costs, impacts and feasibility of conversion, informing a policy decision: • To facilitate the implementation of trials by providing a clear, unambiguous set of installation instructions for hydrogen systems • To understand the changes needed to accommodate hydrogen in end user environments as a

benchmark against which to assess the readiness of existing homes and businesses. With the launch of the Hydrogen Knowledge Centre, IGEM and the LBF will be in the front row for knowledge and implementation.

This also applies to the future requirements for gas work in high-risk residential buildings.

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How the LBF works with the gas industry

The Gas Act covers premises that are out of scope of GSIUR Gas Act

Standards/guidance Technical Bulletins and Safety Alerts temporarily fill gaps in standards

Trade/industry bodies eg, GISG, APPCOG, HHIC, APHC, SNIPEF, EUA

Metering: MAMs, AMI, Smart

HSWA Health & Safety at Work etc Act

GSIUR Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regs

Liquid Gas UK IGEM BSI

Changes to standards/guidance impact on and often require assessment/training changes

Legislation Training/assessment Standards/guidance Hierarchical relationship Informative/consulting relationship

GSIUR requires operatives to be Gas Safe registered. Gas Safe Register rules require ACS or equivalent

Gas Safe Register

IGEM Standards of Training – IGEM/IG/1. IGEM are authorisers of recognisers of training

ACS Accredited Certification Scheme GCS Group Competency Scheme

SMB Strategic Management Board provides governance and ensures due process of SCF decisions

SCF Standards Consultation Forum makes decisions on setting standards for training & assessments

GILG Gas Industry Liaison Group Training

Recogniser of Training

Awarding bodies Certification bodies Training bodies

ACS – Owned by SMB and managed by EU Skills. Assessment process accredited by UKAS

and downstream gas industry.

IGEM facilitates the annual downstream Gas Utilisation Conference, which LBF supports, and influences the programme planning, messaging and outcomes.

The forum gets involved with Gas Safety Week and individual businesses promote gas safety, supporting Gas Safe Register. It does this by focusing on GSIUR Regulation 8, which places legal duties on all trades to keep gas installations safe. Its campaign “Staying safe during building projects – repairs & refurbishments” targets gas professionals and social housing groups to spread the word among fellow tradespeople of the dangers of interfering with existing gas installations when working in buildings.

Staying safe during building projects

The forum regularly refreshes the free guidance and risk assessments to help tradespeople ensure they do not contravene Regulation 8, and these are free to download at:

www.igem.org.uk/technicalservices/large-businessforum/reg-8-riskassessments-staying-safeduring-building-projects/

The forum has always stood by its original vision of taking a united, common sense approach to issues affecting larger gas business and will continue to do so, absolutely maintaining its autonomy and independence to promote collaboration and trust for the benefit of utilisation professionals.

All this allows passionate debate about our whole gas industry and enables the LBF to strongly influence regulatory bodies, trade and membership organisations, training and assessment and the standards and procedural setters.

As an industry forum, it is respected, trusted and consulted by decision makers as a recognised body representing large gas businesses. n

Join the LBF

The LBF is actively looking for new members, so if you are a large gas business or manage gas compliance in a large business, you’re passionate about gas safety and can make decisions, we’d be pleased to hear from you. The benefits of being part of the LBF are: • Networking with top gas compliance specialists • Debate, development, synergy with top gas compliance specialists • Sharing of compliance knowledge • Unique opportunities to interact and influence leaders in gas • Be part of a common-sense ideology • Input to the debate on net-zero energy • Deep dives on the requirements and challenges that the downstream sector faces in adopting hydrogen • Outline what policies and actions the government and industry can take to set appropriate priorities, aid the transition and prevent unintended consequences.

www.igem.org.uk/technical-services/large-businessforum

or email: trevorsmallpeice@outlook.com