BESCA strengthens vent hygiene scheme

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BESCA has responded to growing demand for improved fire safety in buildings by adding new features to its Ventilation Hygiene Elite (VHE) scheme website.

The scheme is based on BESA’s long-established guide to good practice and the most recently released Specification, TR19® Grease, which sets the industry approved standard for ventilation hygiene – an essential way to reduce the risk of fire being spread through kitchen extraction systems.

The Association’s certification arm BESCA audits work to ensure standards are maintained and manages a database of post-clean verification reports to give reassurance to clients and their insurers that ventilation systems are being maintained to a high standard. It also ensures that all operatives used by member companies are undertaking recognised training and have reached the right level of competence to meet the TR19® standard.

The scheme has now been further enhanced with the introduction of a ‘live’ feature on the VHE website to show whether firms are registered on the scheme and fully compliant with TR19® or whether their status is under review for any reason. This is designed to ensure the system of ensuring compliance is robust and can give clients the reassurance they need when looking to employ a company with fully up-to-date professional credentials.

They will be able to see if a member company is a fully approved member, under review or suspended from the scheme. Some firms may be going through an audit process before becoming approved members or be the subject of an ‘elevated compliance surveillance’ before BESCA confirms their compliance.

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