Competent Person and Scheme Review
A written scheme is only as good as the judgement behind it, and only stays valid while it reflects the plant. We provide the competent person and review existing schemes to keep them current.
About the competent person and scheme review
The Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 require the written scheme to be drawn up, or certified as suitable, by a competent person, and the same competence is needed to carry out the examinations that the scheme calls for. A competent person is someone with the skills, knowledge and experience to do the work properly and to make sound engineering judgements about what a system needs.
A scheme is not a document you write once and forget. The regulations require it to be reviewed at appropriate intervals, and it has to be kept in step with the plant. When a system is modified, re-rated, repaired or put to a different duty, the examinable items and the intervals may no longer be right, and the scheme needs to be revalidated to reflect the change.
At Vertek we act as the competent person for new schemes and review existing ones, whether we drew them up or not. Where a scheme is sound we confirm it; where it has fallen behind the plant we set out what needs to change and why.
What review and certification involves
Reviewing or certifying a scheme is a technical judgement about whether it still fits the system in front of us. It typically covers:
- Certifying a new scheme as suitable for the system
- Reviewing an existing scheme against the current plant
- Checking the examinable items are complete and correct
- Confirming the examination methods and intervals remain appropriate
- Revalidating a scheme after modification, repair or re-rating
- Reflecting findings from previous examinations
- Advising where a scheme no longer matches the system
- Keeping the scheme aligned with the safe operating limits
Why schemes need reviewing
Competence is required
The regulations place the scheme and the examinations in the hands of a competent person, not just any inspector.
Schemes must be reviewed
A scheme has to be reviewed at appropriate intervals, so periodic review is part of keeping it valid, not an optional extra.
Plant changes over time
Modifications, repairs and changes of duty can move a system outside what its scheme assumes, which is when revalidation matters most.
Independent confirmation
We review schemes we did not write, giving duty holders an independent check that the scheme still holds.
What you receive
For a review you receive a clear statement of whether the existing scheme remains suitable, what needs to change if it does not, and the competent person's certification once it is right.
For a new or revalidated scheme you receive the scheme document itself, with the examinable items, examination methods and intervals set out, certified as suitable for the system as it now stands.
Because the same team can act as the competent person and carry out the examinations, review findings feed straight back into the scheme, and the scheme stays a live reflection of the plant rather than a document that drifts out of date.
Keeping a scheme current
A written scheme of examination is a living document. The duty to keep it suitable does not end when it is first drawn up, and a scheme that no longer matches the plant offers little protection whatever it says on paper. Reviewing the scheme at appropriate intervals, and revalidating it whenever the system is modified, repaired or re-rated, is how duty holders keep their pressure systems both compliant and genuinely safe to operate.
Related inspection services
Need a competent person or a scheme review?
Speak with our team about certifying a new scheme or reviewing and revalidating an existing one.