I just had a chat with one of the well known competence check accreditation companies about the poor standard of H&S of one of their accredited companies and am horrified to learn they are really not interested I was told that there is an annual review when the company makes certain statements and promises to adhere to all relevant safety rules and regs but between those reviews there is nothing they are prepared to do following receipt of a complaint. I am gobsmacked.

I have recently learned of a building company using two separate competence check logo's on their vehicles and letter headed paper and they are not registered as competent with either. Both organisations are going to write to Trading Standards to complain. It is a breach of consumer legislation. Otherwise I think you are right about the cheque, that is more important than the "check".

Firesafety This is nothing to do with consumer legislation I am afraid as it does not cover business activities. You would need to look at a breach of contract - which could be very hard with all the exclusions in the small print. These firms simply contract an initial or annual accreditation and expect organisations to monitor their own activities. It is one vey good reason why they should NOT be regarded with the esteem they are - they do not assure ongoing competence. Yes I do know also that the organisation membership under electrical and gas can and is abused but the HSE should have been dealing with this and have the powers to do so. Bob

Firstly, these organisations do not do it all, as some people think. It is one way of standardising bureaucracy but does not remove the responsibility of the end user/consumer to make sufficient enquiries of their own as every job requires risk assessment bla bla bla.... It never has. However, I think a formal 'letter of complaint' should be sent to the CEO of the body concerned based on the response you got. No organisation likes 'formal complaints' and you will probably find there is a board level performance measure on something like this. If no joy then I suggest that you advise your colleagues here to 'ensure they double check' said organisations accredited contractors they are using as it is obvious that the standards they apply are not universal. Someone will get the message soon enough.

The Electrical "approvals" bodies are UKAS accredited, they get away with approving incompetent people as competent so why should any other ACAS accredited body be any different?