Further to the 1987 Piper Alpha Offshore disaster the investigation report led by Lord Cullen, recommended that employers ensure the Competency of Personnel for all workers that they employ.
The Electricity at Work Regulations (1989) made this a mandatory requirement and increased the standards necessary to ensure the competency of personnel, thereby increasing workplace safety in potentially hazardous environments. Both of these new legal requirements brought about the need to provide a competency scheme that would both assess the underpinning knowledge (theory) and the competency validation (practical assessment) of individuals under one scheme and the associated Core Competency Certificate that would be obtained by successful practitioners.
1994 saw the birth of the first CompEx Centre at Aberdeen College in Aberdeen, Scotland and now there are 13 Licensed CompEx Centres in the UK and 3 International Centres (see Training Centres Page). Since it’s inception, CompEx has certificated nearly 25,000 candidates, all adding to increased safety awareness in the workplace, each certificate being valid up to a period of 5 years, depending on the changes to International, European and British Standards.
CompEx is a training initiative, jointly developed by the Engineering Equipment and Materials Users’ Association (EEMUA) and JTL, the leading training provider to the building services engineering sector. The scheme is accredited by JTL and supported by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
There is a national network of JTL approved assessment centres that provide CompEx training located across the country from Aberdeen to Southampton. No matter where you are in the country, there is always a centre within reach. The course includes all training and assessments and, upon success, candidates will receive a CompEx Certificate of Core Competence. In addition, there are a number of international centres.