The Accredited Leak Detection Technician standard
One national credential for a discipline currently measured eight different ways. The Accredited Leak Detection Technician standard defines what competent, non-invasive leak detection looks like across Australia: the methods, the conduct, and the boundaries of the work. We are building this standard now, with our founding members, so that a single mark can mean the same thing in every state.
What the credential means
Accreditation is a statement of discipline, not a licence to trade.
An Accredited Leak Detection Technician is a practitioner who locates leaks in water and gas systems using non-invasive, diagnostic methods (acoustic, correlation, thermal, tracer-gas, moisture, CCTV and membrane testing) to an agreed national standard of competence and conduct.
The credential is designed to be portable. Today, a technician who works across state lines is judged against eight separate licensing regimes and no consistent quality mark. LDIA accreditation is intended to give insurers, strata managers, builders and homeowners one reference point they can recognise and rely on, wherever the work is carried out.
LDIA sets and maintains this standard. It does not detect leaks, and it does not carry out repairs. The Institute accredits the practitioner, records the accreditation on a public register, and refers work to the people who hold it.
How you earn it
The accreditation pathway is in development. The elements below describe the standard we are building with our founding members: the framework an Accredited Leak Detection Technician will be assessed against, not a scheme that is yet open for assessment. Founding members help shape each element before it is finalised.
Competency standard
A defined body of knowledge and demonstrated skill across the core detection methods (acoustic and correlation, thermal imaging, tracer-gas, moisture mapping, CCTV inspection and membrane (EFVM) testing) together with the reporting, safety and site-conduct expectations that surround them. We are drafting this competency standard to align with the relevant Australian Standards rather than to duplicate them.
Assessment
Accreditation will be granted against evidence, not attendance. The assessment model, combining verification of prior experience, method competency and a knowledge component, is being designed now. We will publish it in full before the first technician is assessed.
Code of Conduct
Every accredited member agrees to a Code of Conduct covering honest reporting, scope discipline, client care, and the mandatory hand-off of repair and gas work to licensed trades. The Code is a condition of accreditation and a condition of remaining on the register.
Insurance minimums
Accreditation will require current professional indemnity and public liability cover at minimums set by the Institute. Specific cover levels are being finalised with input from founding members and insurers, and will be published with the scheme.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
Accreditation is not a one-time award. Members will maintain it through ongoing CPD, keeping current with methods, equipment and the evolving Standards, so the credential continues to mean something over time. The CPD framework is in development.
The principles
The principles behind the standard
Before the detail of methods and assessment, the standard rests on a small set of principles. They shape every requirement and every accreditation decision.
Competence, not time served
Accreditation reflects demonstrated skill across the detection methods, assessed against evidence, not hours logged or courses attended.
Non-invasive first
The discipline locates and diagnoses without cutting or destruction. Precision before anything is opened up is the point of the work.
A clear boundary
Members locate. Licensed trades repair. All gas testing and make-safe work is handed to a licensed gasfitter — a condition of accreditation.
Verifiable, not assumed
Every accreditation appears on a public register, so a customer can confirm a mark is current rather than take it on trust.
Accountable
A code of conduct backed by a published complaints and disciplinary process. Accreditation can be conditioned, suspended or withdrawn.
Independent of the repair
LDIA accredits the practitioner and maintains the standard. It does not detect leaks, and it does not carry out repairs.
The scope of practice
The scope of practice: the bright line
The clearest thing our standard does is draw a line around the work. LDIA accreditation covers non-invasive location and diagnosis only. It does not cover repair, and it does not cover gas pressure or leak testing and make-safe. Those are the domain of licensed trades, and our accreditation is built to keep them there.
Members locate. Licensed trades repair. All gas pressure/leak testing and make-safe is carried out by a licensed gasfitter.
This is LDIA accreditation policy and the best practice we require of our members. An accredited technician uses non-invasive methods to find and diagnose a leak, then reports it — and where repair, pressure testing or make-safe is needed, hands the work to an appropriately licensed plumber or gasfitter.
We hold this line for a reason. It keeps the discipline safe, it keeps the boundary with licensed trades clear, and it lets LDIA advocate for leak detection as a distinct, credible speciality — one that complements the licensed trades rather than encroaching on them.
Gas safety
Gas always hands off. Any gas work must comply with AS/NZS 5601.1 and be carried out by a licensed gasfitter, without exception.
This describes LDIA's accreditation policy and general information about the leak-detection discipline. It is not legal advice, and it is not a statement of what any law requires or permits. Licensing requirements differ from state to state and change over time. Every practitioner is responsible for complying with the law in their own jurisdiction and should verify their obligations with the relevant state regulator.
What the LDIA mark means to a customer
For a homeowner, insurer or strata manager, the leak-detection market is hard to read. Anyone can describe themselves as a specialist, and there has been no independent mark to tell competence apart from a claim. The LDIA mark is being built to answer one question: does this technician work to a recognised national standard?
When the accreditation scheme is live, the LDIA mark against a technician's name will be intended to signal that they have met the Institute's competency standard, agreed to the Code of Conduct, hold current insurance, and work within the scope of practice above: locating and diagnosing, and handing repair and all gas work to licensed trades.
Accreditation will be verifiable. Each accredited technician and business will appear on LDIA's public register, so anyone can confirm a mark is current rather than take it on trust.
How the standard is upheld
A standard is only as strong as what happens when it is breached. LDIA accreditation is designed to be held to account, not just awarded.
The Code of Conduct will be backed by a clear complaints and disciplinary process. Anyone — a client, an insurer, another member — will be able to raise a concern about an accredited technician's conduct or scope. Complaints will be assessed against the Code, the technician given a fair opportunity to respond, and outcomes will range from guidance through to conditions on, suspension of, or removal from accreditation.
Removal means removal from the public register. Accreditation is a continuing commitment, and it can be withdrawn.
This complaints and disciplinary framework is in development and will be published with the scheme, so members and the public know exactly how the standard is enforced before the first accreditation is granted.
The standards behind the standard
LDIA accreditation is built to align with the Australian Standards that already govern this work, including the AS/NZS 3500 plumbing series, AS/NZS 5601.1 for gas installations, AS 5488 for subsurface utility location, and the ASTM membrane-testing methods. We advocate within these frameworks rather than duplicate them, and we support the case for a dedicated Australian guideline on non-invasive building leak detection.
A full guide to how the standards and the state licensing landscape fit together is coming as the Institute forms.
Help set the standard you'll be measured by
The Accredited Leak Detection Technician standard is being built now, with the technicians and businesses who join as founding members. Founding members help shape the competency standard, the Code and the scheme, and are among the first listed on the public register when it opens.
If you locate leaks in water or gas systems and want to be part of defining how the discipline is accredited in Australia, register your interest today.
LDIA is a not-for-profit body, currently forming. Registering your interest does not grant accreditation; the scheme is in development, and we will be in touch as it opens.