PAS 125 vehicle body repair specification to become a British Standard
20 January 2014
BSI, the business standards company continues its engagement with the vehicle body repair community, by outlining the process for the development of a new British Standard, BS 10125. This will be based on the existing Publicly Available Specification, PAS 125, Automotive services – Specification for vehicle damage repair processes which was first launched in 2007 and revised in 2011.
It addresses the processes required to effect a safe and quality repair to accident damaged vehicles. This next review will see the highly successful automotive standard updated where necessary and maturing into a full British Standard. Dan Palmer Head of Market Development for Manufacturing & Services at BSI said: “Industry adoption of PAS 125 has been very strong since it was launched in 2007. It was subsequently revised in 2011 and due to its maturity, the natural progression was to become a British Standard.”
Automotive Services committee
The Automotive Services committee is made up of representatives from the vehicle repair sector and includes: repairers, insurers, training organizations, industry bodies, auditing experts and consumer representation. The committee will remain in place for the life of the standard, allowing continuous review and management of the content to ensure relevance to the vehicle repair sector. By the PAS becoming a British Standard, it will bring the benefits of consumer recognition and the on-going scrutiny of the committee will ensure it evolves with industry input.
The first meeting took place in November where the current PAS was reviewed in detail, highlighting areas that needed updating. To ensure input from the repair sector, a technical Drafting Panel of industry experts has been established and met for the first time in December. As a result the panel has begun its assessment of the sections identified for revision.
Once the committee is in agreement with the draft standard it will be made public for anyone with an interest in the vehicle body repair industry to comment on. This is likely to be at the beginning of June 2014.
This robust, staged review process is typical of the path taken for all British Standards and will ensure BS 10125 benefits from the input of all those who are expert and interested in the continued development of the UK’s Vehicle Body Repair sector. The target publication date for BS 10125 is December 2014.
Lesley Upham
Lesley Upham Committee Chair said: “It is great to see PAS 125 become a British Standard. It demonstrates the success of the original work carried out to the benefit of the vehicle damage repair community. As part of the collaboration process BSI is keen to hear from members of the repair community at the public consultation stage.”
With over 900 bodyshops already Kitemark certified by BSI or audited to PAS 125 by other UKAS accredited certification bodies, there is keen interest in the practical detail of moving to a British Standard. Ian Kitchin, Global Commercial Director for Product Certification at BSI said: "The new British Standard will provide the industry with a document which has greater recognition by work providers and the general public. PAS 125 has been reviewed on a regular basis and was due further review making the transition to a British Standard timely. The process will pick up any elements which would have been included in the PAS review. The fact that the certification will be based on a British Standard does not mean that there will be any changes to the audit methodology and process. Clients with a BSI Kitemark™ for Vehicle Damage Repair can be reassured that BSI will help them transition their Kitemark certification over smoothly. ”
* The organizations involved in this process include: ABP - Auto Body Professionals Club, AkzoNobel, Association of British Certification Bodies, Aviva plc, Brown Brothers Distribution, CARSQA Ltd, Direct Line Group, Fusion Management Support Limited, Institute of Automotive Engineer Assessors, Intertek Transportation Technologies, National Association of Bodyshops, Nationwide Crash Repair Centres, Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders Limited, Thatcham Research, The Institute of the Motor Industry, Vehicle Builders & Repairers Association, Which? In addition to experts in automotive glazing, automotive parts, body repair, crash repair assessment and mobile repair.
