Installer descriptions, Reproduction Certificates and use of the BBA logo

Installers

There are several ways that installers of products and BBA Certificate holder approved installer schemes ( as opposed to BBA Approved Installer schemes) are described in Certificates and to provide greater consistency we are introducing a new approach in this important area.

For products where no specialist training – beyond that normally expected of, say, builders , plumbers or roofers , is required – BBA Certificates will state that the approved product can be installed by appropriate trades.

For products where specialist training is required and the Certificate holders wish us to refer to an approved installer scheme run by them, we will require that such a scheme is documented and the Certificate holder is responsible for at least the following.

• Providing detailed installation procedures to the installer for installing the product
• Training and approving each technician employed by the installer before undertaking work . A technician is the member of the installation team responsible for the quality of the work
• Maintaining a list of approved technicians employed by each installer
• Assessing the installer’s management process for managing, allocating, and controlling work.
• Inspecting samples of work done by the installer to ensure that the required standards have been met and are being maintained

The BBA Inspector will, at each routine visit (normally every six months), audit the implementation of the procedure and report compliance, or otherwise, to the relevant BBA Project Manager.

In such cases the wording in the relevant BBA Certificate will be, where XXXXX is the holder and YYYYY is the product:

XXXXX operates an Approved Installer Scheme for YYYYY under which installers are trained, approved, registered and regularly reviewed to demonstrate that they are competent to carry out installation of YYYYY in accordance with this Certificate. Details of Approved Installers are available from XXXXX.

Certificate holder’s records relating to the ongoing maintenance of their Approved Installer Scheme will be audited by the BBA as part of its regular programme of surveillance.

Certificate holders are responsible for the training and competency assessment of their approved installers and the installers are responsible for the installations of the product or system that they carry out.

If specialist training is required but the Certificate holder does not wish to take up a BBA audit of the scheme the wording will in the Certificate will be to the effect that the product should only be installed by trained installers and details of these are available from the Certificate holder.

Where specialist training is required and the Certificate holder wishes the marketing benefit of a BBA Approved Installer Scheme , including use of the BBA Approved Installer logo by installer customers, we would be happy to discuss this with you.

Reproductions

We also wish to introduce new arrangements for Reproductions of BBA Certificates, whereby large customers of Certificate holders can obtain BBA Certificates in their own name (often known as own-labelling). A number of cases of misrepresentation of BBA approval have been brought to our attention recently - we have become victims of our own success in promoting the value of BBA approval to the market - and this is damaging to genuine Certificate holders and the BBA. To protect the integrity of our (and your) Certificates we have reviewed our policy in this area and will in future undertake annual audits of Reproduction holders at our normal inspection rates to provide assurance that the BBA approved product is being offered. Reproduction Contracts will be amended to include this provision.

Use of the BBA logo

In cases where, for example, Certificate holders have no sales force and specialist distributors sell the BBA approved product as it is supplied and under the Certificate holder's name, we will in future allow the BBA logo to be used by the distributor. Again we will audit this annually for a fee per distributor and we will require notification of those distributors who wish to use the logo so we can list and enter into a contract with them.

If a distributor wishes to sell the BBA approved product under a different name, the Reproduction route should be followed.

If you would like to discuss any of the above, please get back to your BBA Area Business Manager .