ACS Gas Accreditation
What is ACS?
The Nationally Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS) is the only recognised and official route for operatives to gain the certificate of competence they require to become a member of the Gas Safe Register. ACS courses and assessments cover all areas of gas work including
- Commercial gas
- Domestic natural gas
- Commercial catering
- commercial laundry
- Emergency service provider and meter installers
The scheme is overseen by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
Gastec and all training centres fall within their chosen governing bodies’ quality of training standards set out by UKAS
How to join the Gas Safe Register
You need to complete training and acquire the relevant ACS certificate(s) in the areas of work in which you want to be registered with Gas Safe. On completion of your ACS assessment you will be awarded your certificate of competence, you will then be able to apply to the Gas Safe Register. Once you finish any ACS assessments with Gastec Training we will notify the Gas Safe Register, this leaves you ready to apply or renew with Gas Safe.
During the probationary period, you must keep a record of all gas work carried out for the Gas Safe Register to inspect. Certain tasks, like the installation of appliances, will be notified to the Gas Safe Register portal as detailed in their rules of registration.
Registration with the Gas Safe Register is a legal requirement for anyone carrying out gas work in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey. Gastec will lead you to the start of this journey.
Core ACS qualifications?
In all areas of gas work, there is a core gas safety assessment which must be achieved before an individual appliance assessment can be undertaken. There are core gas safety assessments for domestic gas, Liquid Propane Gas, commercial gas, commercial catering, commercial laundry, gas emergency service provider and metering.
For Example:
Domestic Natural Gas:
Core Domestic Gas Safety – CCN1 (compulsory) which now includes CPA1 (combustion performance analysis)
Once the CCN1 has been completed, the appliance assessment relevant to your work can be completed.
Think of a core ACS qualification as the hub from which you can branch out your portfolio.
Common appliances to extend your CCN1 from are:
Central Heating Boilers & Water Heaters – CENWAT
Cookers – CKR1
Gas Fires – HTR1
Meters – MET1
Ducted Air Heaters – DAH1
Extending into commercial gas?
For those moving from one ACS core to another, there are changeover training and assessment courses that will assess the candidate in the areas that are outside their usual scope of work.
Additional training will be required before the assessment can be undertaken. Candidates should speak to Gastec before commencing a changeover to ensure they will meet the requirements to attend the course.
Common examples of Changeover gas courses:
- CODNCO1 – Changeover from Domestic Natural Gas to Commercial Natural Gas
- CODC1 – Changeover from Domestic Natural Gas to commercial catering
- COCATA1 – Changeover from Domestic to commercial catering appliances
- CODNESP1 – Changeover from Domestic to gas emergency service provider
- CONGLP1 – Changeover from natural gas core(s) to LPG *Inclusive of permanent dwellings*
Jobs in the gas industry
It is rarer and rarer these days that any engineer will stick to one field. Gastec has always taken pride in seeing engineers come back to gain more qualifications, its testimony to the workload that any driven engineer can attain. These expansions in skillset would lead to a wider range of career and business development opportunities such as:
- Domestic sector
- Central heating engineer
- Service engineer
- Breakdown engineer
- Meter installer
- Commercial Sector
- Commercial service engineer
- Commissioning engineer
- Commercial catering engineer
- LPG Breakdown/controls engineer
- OFTEC OIL
Starting a career in gas
At Gastec we can help you realise your career goals with a tailored approach to your training requirements. We don’t believe there is one size that fits all, so contact us to discuss in more detail your specific needs. At Gastec we pride ourselves on advising our customers on the most effective way to get the training and accreditation they need for a long and fulfilled career.
Below we will look at a small handful of jobs in the gas industry and what Qualifications you would need to undertake at Gastec to obtain them. These courses are run on a monthly basis.
Domestic Meter Installation
To work in domestic meter installation we recommend the CCN1 Core Gas Safety course followed by the MET1 Meter Installers course.
DOMESTIC GAS SERVICES ENGINEER
To work on domestic installations in service and installation capacities we recommend the CCN1 Core Domestic Gas Safety. Depending on what you wish to work on, follow this up with domestic gas courses such as :
Commercial Services Engineer
To work on commercial installations we would normally recommend completing the domestic route and then taking one of our cross-training from new/ conversion courses, such as the CODNC01 course to gain certification in commercial work. For more information on this, call our friendly team to get some information across!
This can be added to a new entrants package from scratch, call our team for more information on this route.
Liquified Petroleum Gas Operative
To work on LPG installations we would normally recommend completing the domestic route and then taking cross-training/ conversion courses to gain certification in LPG work. This can be added to a new entrants package from scratch, call our team for more information on this route.
The most common route for adding LPG and appliances is a changeover course from natural gas to LPG called CONGLP1.
