Qualified ventilation inspectors — K and N certification

An OVK may only be carried out by a certified ventilation inspector (funktionskontrollant). There are two qualification levels: N for ventilation systems of normal type and K for complicated systems. Certification is personal, time-limited — normally five years — and issued by accredited certification bodies, in practice RISE and Kiwa. The requirements are set out in Boverket's regulations on the functional inspection of ventilation systems (BFS 2011:16).

The difference between N and K

Qualification	May inspect
N (normal)	S, F and FX systems, plus one- and two-dwelling buildings with FT or FTX systems
K (complicated)	All types of ventilation system, including FT and FTX in apartment buildings, offices and premises

The consequence is concrete: an apartment building with FTX ventilation requires K certification. If you engage an inspector holding only N certification for such a system, the inspection has not been carried out by a qualified person — and it is your responsibility as building owner that the inspection is done correctly, not the inspector's.

If you do not know which system type your building has, it is in the previous report. The letters are explained in the interval table.

How do you check that an OVK inspector is actually certified?

The report must contain the inspector's name, qualification level, certificate number and certification body. Both RISE and Kiwa maintain searchable certificate registers on their websites where you look up the number and see the qualification level and validity period. It takes a minute per inspector and is worth doing once per supplier per year, not per inspection. What you are checking is that the certificate was valid on the inspection date — a certificate that expired in the meantime does not matter, but one that had already expired when the inspection was carried out does.

The certificate is personal and time-limited

Two consequences frequently missed in procurement:

• The certificate belongs to the person, not the company. An inspection company holds no qualification; its employees do. If the company changes staff mid-framework-agreement, the qualification position can change without the agreement doing so.
• Validity is normally five years and requires renewal. In a framework agreement running over several years, certificates will therefore expire within the contract period.

A practical routine in a larger portfolio: require a current certificate list from the supplier once a year, and check the qualification and number in the report at the point of reading it in rather than afterwards. In Emphyx the inspector's name, qualification level, certificate number and certification body are recorded as their own fields on every OVK — see OVK handling — precisely so that check can be run across the whole portfolio instead of per document.

What the inspector must actually do

Beyond measuring and assessing function, the inspector must document the result in a report and issue a certificate that you as owner must display in the building. See how to read an OVK report and the display requirement.

Where there is reason, the inspector must also propose how energy use can be reduced without worsening the indoor environment. That proposal is advisory — it is not a remark and carries no duty to act.

Training and examination

The route to certification runs through documented technical education, practical experience and a certification examination at RISE or Kiwa. Industry bodies such as Svensk Ventilation and Funkis (the Swedish association of ventilation inspectors) run preparatory courses. If you are seeking certification yourself, it is the certification body's current requirements that apply — they change over time, and we do not reproduce them here.

If you are a client rather than a prospective inspector, what you need is in the table above: the right qualification level for the system type, and a certificate number that can be looked up.