Qualified persons (QPs) such as building services engineers (BSEs), building surveyors (BSs) or licensed plumbers (LPs) are to be engaged by property owners/property management agents to help perform risk assessments and identify areas where potential contamination of the internal plumbing systems may occur. To facilitate the industry for providing such services, accredited training programme providers have been organising WSPB training courses regularly to train up QPs. QPs will be included in the following list of trained QPs after completing the training and assessments:1
The above list is updated about half-yearly.2 A trained QP will be removed from the list under the following conditions:
(i) The QP’s professional qualification or registration is no longer valid;
(ii) The QP is found to provide substandard WSPB services3; or
(iii) The QP fails to attend refresher training as required by WSD.
The training courses on WSPB are organised by accredited training programme providers with trainers who have completed the “train-the-trainer” sessions organised by WSD. Please refer to the following link for the relevant accredited training programme providers:
Besides, WSD will invite relevant consultants to WSD’s training sessions organised on a need basis4. Those firms with at least one trained QP who has also completed WSD’s training session and associated assessment are included in the following list of trained consultants. Those trained consultants can play the role of QPs.
WSD reviews the above list on an annual basis. A firm will be removed from the above list if it no longer has any such trained QPs in service.
Note:
[1] Since July 2020, QPs who have completed WSPB training are required to pass the centralised assessment organised about half-yearly by an education institution engaged by WSD with a view to enhancing the quality of QP’s service. Please refer to the following websites for further information about QPs:
https://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/water-safety/water-safety-in-buildings/index.html
https://www.wsd.gov.hk/en/water-safety/fresh-water-management-system-/index.html
[2] The list is usually updated following release of the centralised assessment results. QPs may contact the WSPB helpdesk or relevant training programme providers for details of the centralised assessment.
[3] Actions that could undermine the effectiveness of WSPB such as delegation of the inspection services to non-qualified persons, failure to report significant risks, etc.
[4] WSD annually invites firms of the Building Services and Building Surveying categories on the List of Consultants of Architectural and Associated Consultants Selection Board (AACSB) to nominate their trained QPs to participate in WSD’s training sessions. For effective use of resources, the minimum class size of such training session is about 30 participants.