This is going to be interesting to watch...  I'm not 100% sure how I feel about it.  I know there are sectors of industry that have been calling for self certifying for plumbers and drainlayers, to sit alongside the self certifying that gasfitters do.  I think self certifying for gasfitters has worked ok up to a point - but then I read the Paul Gee stuff and I wonder if an inspector had got involved whether he might have been saved a lot of grief because the finger wouldn't have been pointed over the fish and chip shop explosion, and the two charges around the water heater would have been picked up by an inspector and not allowed to have been signed off (or maybe they might not have been picked up and then no one would have been questioning it).  What happens with self certifying is that the burden of responsibility then falls on the tradesman - now if a good job has been done that's fine - but if it hasn't - then what happens?  The homeowner won't necessarily know unless something goes wrong.  I'm all for cutting red tape, but I'm also thinking the inspector is an ambulance at the top of the cliff.  What do others think?

thats a good point jax - i agree