Phoenix Journal · LEV Testing
ILEVE and the LEV competence framework decide who is genuinely qualified to test your extraction system. Here is what the names and qualifications mean, and why they matter when you book.
If you have ever read an LEV report and wondered what the string of letters after the engineer's name actually means, ILEVE and the LEV competence framework are the answer.
Local exhaust ventilation is the engineering that captures airborne contaminants at source before anyone breathes them in. In a commercial kitchen that means canopy extraction pulling grease-laden vapour away from the cooking line, but the same principle covers welding fume, flour dust, solvent vapour and countless other workplace hazards. Because these systems protect people's lungs, the law does not let just anyone sign them off. It expects a competent person to examine and test them, and it expects that competence to be real and demonstrable rather than assumed.
That is where the framework comes in. Over the past two decades a clear structure has grown up around who is qualified to design, commission, examine and test LEV, who accredits that qualification, and how you as a system owner can check any of it. Understanding the shape of it takes the mystery out of choosing a tester and reading the report you are handed afterwards.
ILEVE stands for the Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers. It exists to recognise real competence in the practical application of LEV and to raise the profile of good air quality and ventilation at work. The Institute sits under the umbrella of CIBSE, the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers, and it is supported by the Health and Safety Executive - which matters, because the HSE is the body that enforces the underlying law and rarely lends its name to something lightly.
The Institute offers membership designations that act as credentials. You will see AILEVE for an Associate, MILEVE for a full Member and FILEVE for a Fellow, and these grades give evidence of demonstrated knowledge and skill rather than simply time served. Beyond that, ILEVE provides a route toward formal professional registration, so an experienced LEV engineer can progress to recognised titles such as Engineering Technician or Incorporated Engineer. In plain terms, ILEVE gives the trade a career ladder and gives you a way to tell a properly developed engineer from someone who has bought a smoke pen and a manometer.
None of this is a trade association badge for show. The Institute publishes technical guidance, runs and accredits courses, and works to keep standards consistent across a field where a poor test can leave a genuinely failing system quietly signed off as fine. When you commission LEV or extraction work, the presence of an ILEVE-affiliated engineer is a useful signal that the person holding the anemometer knows what a good result actually looks like.
The competence framework is the structured set of qualifications that sits behind those membership grades. Most of it is delivered through the British Occupational Hygiene Society, the BOHS, whose "P600" series has become the recognised route for LEV professionals. Each module targets a different part of the LEV lifecycle, and they build on one another rather than standing alone.
The reason this framework carries weight is the law behind it. Under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations - COSHH - Regulation 9 requires most LEV systems to undergo a thorough examination and test at least once every fourteen months, and higher-risk processes more often. That work must be carried out by a "competent person", meaning someone with the skills, knowledge and experience to do it properly. The HSE's own guidance document HSG258, "Controlling airborne contaminants at work", sets out what that examination should involve and points owners toward BOHS, CIBSE and ILEVE qualifications as the way to evidence competence. Holding P601 is not written into the regulations as a legal must, but the HSE strongly recommends it and it is the widely accepted industry benchmark. If you want to understand the examination itself in more detail, our guide on what a thorough examination and test actually means walks through exactly what a competent engineer checks.
For a kitchen or workshop operator, the practical value of all this is simple. When you arrange an LEV test, you are entitled to ask what qualifications your engineer holds, and a confident, competent provider will answer without hesitation. A tester who holds P601, and ideally has ILEVE affiliation behind it, is far more likely to interpret your results correctly, spot a hood that is under-performing against its design velocity, and give you a report that stands up if the HSE ever asks to see it.
That report is not a formality either. You must keep each LEV thorough examination and test record for at least five years, and the record needs to show that the system continues to control exposure to a safe level - not merely that it switches on and moves some air. A properly framed report will compare current airflow against the commissioning figures, assess the condition of hoods, ductwork, filters and fans, and state plainly whether the system passed, needs remedial work, or failed. When a system does fall short, the causes are usually specific and fixable, and our explainer on why an LEV system fails its test covers the common culprits and what to do about them.
The short version is this. ILEVE recognises the engineer, the BOHS P600 pathway builds and proves their competence, COSHH and HSG258 set the legal bar, and the framework ties all three together so that "competent person" means something you can actually check. Knowing the names lets you buy the service with your eyes open, and it lets you read your next report knowing exactly whose judgement is behind the result.
Questions
Neither is written into the regulations as a strict legal requirement. COSHH Regulation 9 requires the work to be done by a competent person, and HSG258 points owners toward BOHS, CIBSE and ILEVE qualifications as the way to demonstrate that competence. The HSE strongly recommends P601, and it has become the accepted industry benchmark, so a tester who holds it is the safest choice.
Under COSHH Regulation 9, most LEV systems must undergo a thorough examination and test at least once every fourteen months. Some higher-risk processes require it more frequently. You must also keep each test record for a minimum of five years so you can show the system has continued to control exposure safely.
BOHS, the British Occupational Hygiene Society, is the body that delivers and awards the P600 series of LEV qualifications, including P601. ILEVE, the Institute of Local Exhaust Ventilation Engineers, is the professional institute that recognises LEV engineers through membership grades and routes to professional registration. In practice an engineer gains BOHS qualifications and can then be recognised through ILEVE.
Phoenix Duct Clean · by the numbers
Phoenix examines and tests local exhaust ventilation to HSG258 and COSHH - measured, reported and certificated, UK-wide.