IQPs – How to get your job done and avoid risk

For those of you reading this post, I probably don’t need to reiterate that specified systems are crucial to the safety and health of a building and those who use it. This is the reason we have compliance schedules.

An Independent Qualified Person (IQP), that’s you, will undertake the inspection, maintenance and reporting procedures listed on the compliance schedule for specified systems and issue Form 12A to the building’s owner.

One question that keeps cropping up, in relation to this, and one which was asked of me again recently by a council officer is…

If the compliance schedule states that an "IQP must undertake monthly inspections on a specified system; does that mean that an IQP can employ a local tradesperson to do the checks and then sign the 12A form themselves?”

This has always been a contentious issue, and over the years, common practice has outstripped the actual wording in the compliance schedule.

The Building Act 2004 says that an IQP can carry out or supervise inspection and maintenance of specified systems.

Commonly the interpretation is that an IQP or their staff and/or agents can undertake these roles, but most definitely NOT the building’s owner. 

As an IQP, you are the one that signs the 12A, so ultimate accountability rests with you. You must ensure that the job has been completed by someone who knows what they are doing. If you decide to use staff and/or agents, you must ensure that they have had the correct training through initial supervision and quality assurance checks.

This topic is covered in more detail, and many more of your questions are answered in the Building Networks IQP Forums taking place around the country in September, October and November.
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