Walker Midgley policies and the "NTET" register.

[70000]

Walker Midgley insurance policies refer to a "National Traction Engine Trust Register of Boiler Inspectors" - is this publicly available?

My personal and my club's policies (through the Southern Fed) have similar wording to that of the current version at Walker Midgley Model Engineers Quote & Buy Website .

On page 13 of this document (and similar elsewhere) it has:

Boiler test certificate means a valid
(a) examination certificate issued against a suitable Written Scheme of Examination drawn up by either an inspection authority affiliated to the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed) or The National Traction Engine Trust; or
(b) examination certificate issued by a person or body appearing on The National Traction Engine Trust register of Boiler Inspectors; or
(c) hydraulic test certificate and a valid steam test certificate both issued following examinations conforming with the Examination and Testing of Miniature Steam Boilers (New Edition 2006) or any subsequent revision

Looking on "The National Traction Engine Trust" website, their "Boiler Inspections" and "Insurance Services" pages don't explicitly mention the register. Though there is the following: "Only those inspecting bodies who have lodged current and enduring proof of valid Professional Indemnity insurance cover with the NTET will have NTET Insurance Discs issued against their boiler reports."

The company I'm using to test my boiler was recommended to me by several people including the owner of a 1919 traction engine. I know the company inspect miniature and full size locomotive, traction engine and stationary boilers. Their test certificate must fall under (a) and (b) above, as they are not testing based on the "Examination and Testing of Miniature Steam Boilers (New Edition 2006) or any subsequent revision".

So why am I asking if the register is publicly available or is it only for NTET members? When I get a boiler tested commercially, how do the club's boiler inspectors know that the "examination certificate" meets the requirements of the club's insurers? I will ask others including Walker Midgley if needed, but first I wondered if you guys might know.

[milky]

What is getting tested, this may assist in understanding/answering of the question ?

[70000]

Thanks for the response. It's only a small Station Road Steam Stafford variant boiler that is being tested. But that's irrelevant.

The crux is: if I have a boiler commercially tested - how do I know that the insurers will regard the certificate as valid?

I was hoping someone could tell me if the "National Traction Engine Trust register of Boiler Inspectors" still exists. As I wrote in my original post - it's not mentioned on their website.

When (if?) I find out anything further about this, I'll update this thread.

[70000]

I think I have got an understanding of this now talking to various people including the insurers Walker Midgley. I stress this is my understanding and parts of it may be wrong!

First thing, none of this involves UK boiler inspections following "The Boiler Test Code 2018 - VOLUME 1 - Boilers 3 bar litres to 1100 bar litres". Section 4.6 in this code has: "Boiler Inspectors undertake this duty on a voluntary non-commercial basis. They or their Club or Society shall not charge for examination, testing or certification." Commercial testing does not use this Test Code.

My query was about commercial boiler inspectors in the UK: "if I have a boiler commercially tested - how do I know that the insurers (that is, Walker Midgley) will regard the certificate as valid?"

The National Traction Engine Trust (NTET) in the UK maintain a list of "NTET Insurance Disc Scheme Recognised Boiler Inspectors". On an annual basis, commercial boiler inspectors have to provide proof of professional indemnity insurance to stay on this list. NTET did try to introduce more of a register of commercial boiler inspectors that followed what NTET regarded as a code of good practice. Apparently this was not enthusiastically welcomed by the commercial boiler inspectors community. They pointed out that they work to UK law (PSSR).

It is only the "NTET Insurance Disc Scheme Recognised Boiler Inspectors" list that Walker Midgley use to determine if an "examination certificate" from a commercial boiler inspector is "valid" or not. (Interestingly the UK Northern Association of Model Engineers and Southern Federation of Model Engineers also appear in the list though they test non-commercially under "The Boiler Test Code 2018".)

The implication is that your Walker Midgley insurance cover (for say liability arising from a boiler explosion) is only in place if the commercial boiler inspector appeared on the NTET list at time of the test. That is for all commercially tested boilers, whether they are for a traction engine or not.