Simon Banks steps down from BAFE Board

by Featured NewsPeople

Simon Banks has announced his decision to step down from the BAFE Board after eight years.

Commenting on his departure, Banks said: “It’s been a privilege to represent BAFE for the past eight years. Many organisations benefit from the good work that BAFE do to educate, protect, and save lives and protect property. We must continue to increase competency and training awareness whilst ensuring the best products, high standards, quality, and proficiency through our valued installers.”

Justin Maltby-Smith, Group Managing Director of BAFE, said: “In my first year with BAFE I can see that Simon has been an extremely supportive and valued member of the BAFE Board. Simon’s work, especially with driving new talent into the fire and security sectors, has been of great value, and with Simon’s support BAFE has been honoured to be part of this with our support of quality initiatives such as Apprentices for Fire and Security (A4FS), Engineers of Tomorrow and the World Skills UK competition.”

Banks recently launched the not for profit organisation The Banks Foundation, which supports young people entering the IoT, Security and Electrotechnical sectors.

Maltby-Smith added: “It is imperative that young talent is introduced into the sector to further establish a competent and capable workforce. Simon’s work will continue to aid BAFE regarding this issue and assist in upskilling people into more complex areas that require quality skills and knowledge to advance into these positions to keep people safe.”

The BAFE organisation, including Chair Douglas Barnett, Board/Council, and team gave their thanks to Banks for his service and continued support of competency and third-party certification adding that whilst no longer being a member of the BAFE Board, it expects the relationship will remain strong for many years.

Lack of domestic smoke alarms in UK causing fatalities

by ActiveBuilding ManagementFeatured NewsFire DetectionIndustry SectorsProductsProjects

In research presented by BAFE and NAPIT, data collated over the last decade (2010-11 to 2020-21) in England, Wales, and Scotland record an unsettling 424,464 dwelling fires.

These fires resulted in almost 82,000 non-fatal casualties and close to 3,000 deaths. In more recent statistics made available by Fire and Rescue Services nationwide, there is an ongoing issue with high failure rates or a complete absence of domestic smoke alarms.

In England alone, during 2020 / 2021, there was a 28% failure rate of smoke alarms (i.e. that failed to operate or were not present). This failure rate rises to 39% in Scotland and increasing even further to half of all fires (50%) in Wales.

The ‘Fire Kills’ campaign from the UK government states: “You are around 8 times more likely to die from a fire if you don’t have a working smoke alarm in your home”. Both BAFE and NAPIT have stressed the paramount importance of having suitable life safety systems in place.

Provisional data from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities reports close to 176,000 new build dwellings were started in England alone during the previous 12 months from year ending 2021 (July-September). It is of key importance that the housing development sector complies with Building Regulations and relevant Approved Documents when providing appropriate domestic fire detection and alarm systems. These must be installed by competent contractors.

In August last year, BAFE launched its latest competency scheme with NAPIT, called DS301. This provides a route for contractors to demonstrate their competence to design, install, commission, and maintain Grade D fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises. This supports appropriate British Standards and working best practice, most notably the latest iteration of BS 5839-6 (Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises).

Justin Maltby-Smith, managing director BAFE, said: “This information clearly outlines that it is extremely important that any work on Grade D fire detection and fire alarm systems is performed in compliance with the appropriate current regulatory and competency documents available. Having suitable systems in place will aid in alerting residents as quickly as possible, allowing for a safer evacuation and providing emergency services more time to mitigate any damage. The housing sector has a great responsibility to use competent contractors, which is why the BAFE DS301 Scheme was developed, and it will clearly help in evidencing this competency. We must not lose focus that these are people’s homes, and they should feel safe and be confident in the systems installed.”

Frank Bertie, chief technical officer, NAPIT added: “These statistics show the risk to life posed by fire is a real threat. NAPIT are proud to be leading the way with the introduction of the new DS301 Scheme with BAFE to provide homeowners, house builders, management companies and specifiers with confidence that the contractor they use is appropriately qualified, competent, and assessed.  Registered members on the NAPIT DS301 Scheme have demonstrated their competency to deliver design, installation, commissioning and/or maintenance works for Grade D fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises. Correctly installed fire detection systems help save lives and must be considered a priority in all homes.”

BAFE and FireQual announce management appointments

by People

BAFE FireQual Ltd are pleased to announce that they have appointed Nic Preston as the FireQual Qualifications Manager from 1st September 2020.

Nic has over 14 years of experience in the training and development sector with a proven ability in quality assurance demonstrated in several roles influencing training environments within the UK. His most recent roles have been developing and implementing growth strategies as Chief Executive of SFEDI Awards, the Awarding Organisation for enterprise development. Alongside this he has also been responsible for their compliance with regulatory systems across the UK and was the Responsible Officer for their systems for learners and training centres.

Nic said “Introducing a range of high quality nationally recognised qualifications for the betterment of fire protection services and staff within the fire safety industry will be a rewarding task. FireQual has huge potential to make the industry safer and demonstrably more competent and I look forward to the challenge this offers. Although FireQual is a new venture, it builds on the vast array of knowledge and expertise within the sector both within BAFE and through our valued external partners who continue to support this new endeavour as we move forward. I welcome the opportunity to work with a range of excellent industry partners, training organisations and their candidates to build new relationships and opportunities as we move forward.”

Stephen Adams, Chief Executive – BAFE, added “We believe FireQual is being entrusted in very good hands with Nic. His experience will be invaluable in the development of this Awarding Organisation. This is a big opportunity to develop individual skills to ensure that competence remains at the forefront of the fire safety industry. We are pursuing this because we know that it is the right thing to do in the interest of life safety.”

The BAFE Fire Safety Register is delighted to announce that Chris Auger, currently the BAFE Head of Schemes, has been promoted to Director of Schemes, with responsibility for the organisation and development of existing and new schemes, together with our quality assurance and complaints management. He will have the vital day to day support role with BAFE licensed Certification Bodies.

Chris continues to do a first class job with his work on the Hackitt Working Groups and other stakeholders, especially to promote the value of Third Party Certification and competence, which is now gaining much stronger traction, with the support of UKAS. He has brought a much stronger profile for BAFE amongst a wide range of influencers across the construction sector.

Chris commented: “The BAFE Competence schemes continue to grow and develop, with registrations rising even during the lock down period. We are grateful to Companies and Certification Bodies for continuing to recognise the importance of Third Party Certification and finding new methods to ensure compliance. We have a number of new initiatives to support the industry, specifiers and end users and I am delighted to be taking on this role. With the development of FireQual there will also be a genuine prospect to include accredited technician competence into more of our Company schemes, which will be considered by our dedicated Scheme Monitoring Groups. This will consider all appropriate training and qualifications available, not just FireQual. Organisational competency and evidence of individual expertise remains the forefront of this discussion.”

www.bafe.org.uk/

BAFE acquires operations of the FIA AO

by Projects

Following extensive and detailed discussions with BAFE, the independent register of Third Party Certificated fire safety service providers, the FIA has announced that BAFE will be acquiring the operation of the FIA AO.

BAFE will be establishing FireQual Ltd as an OFQUAL-approved Awarding Body to run the existing Fire Detection and Alarm qualification examinations and to develop new qualifications across the fire sector that will support the call for greater competence and availability of verification of skills for those engaged in fire safety across the UK.

BAFE FireQual will be using qualifications industry experts to operate the business and bring experienced industry and awarding body expertise onto the FireQual Board.

The existing FIA FD&A qualifications will be transferred to BAFE and the FIA will continue to include these in their successful range of training courses. FireQual will be offering these essential qualifications to all industry trainers who meet the stringent training centre requirements.

All of the existing assets of FIA AO, including the current extensive question banks, are included in the sale. FIA AO will continue to operate the exams until such time as BAFE FireQual is in a position to be fully operational. All delegates [including those that are in mid-process] can be fully assured that the priority for the FIA and BAFE is the seamless handover of the examination regime.

It is anticipated that the transfer will be completed by the end of October 2020.

Ian Moore, Chief Executive of the Fire Industry Association, says: “The FIA has allocated considerable resource to bring the first OFQUAL-approved FD&A qualifications to the industry. We are delighted to be passing this on to BAFE in its independent competency role.”

“It was the FIA that originally formed BAFE as the registration body for third party certified fire engineering specialist companies across the UK. As it developed, the FIA supported BAFE to become the fully independent registration body. We now feel that the FIA AO has reached that same level of development and for the same reasons of true independence [from the FIA Training Centre], is undertaking the transfer of the FIA AO to BAFE”.

Stephen Adams, Chief Executive of BAFE, says: ‘We believe that this will be a significant development for the UK fire protection industry and indeed BAFE’s role as the independent competency body. The FIA has made a major contribution to introducing qualifications for FD&A technicians with the development of the FIA AO and we look forward to building on this considerable achievement for the benefit of the wider fire industry. BAFE already invigilates the exams for a large number of fire extinguisher technicians and our aim is to work with Trade Associations and other trainers to develop a comprehensive range of OFQUAL approved qualification exams across the whole fire sector’.

www.fia.uk.com/

www.bafe.org.uk/

BAFE opens new Emergency Evacuation Scheme with four-week consultation period

by Projects

BAFE has announced its new Emergency Evacuation Scheme, which is available to view and comment on for a four-week consultation period by industry.

BAFE SP207 covers the design installation, commissioning and maintenance of evacuation alert systems. These systems are used by fire and rescue services in buildings containing flats (including single-storey flats and maisonettes) across the UK. The Scheme has been developed with the support and cooperation of the National Security Inspectorate (NSI), Gerda and other industry parties.

The new BAFE Scheme observes best practice and the recent standard developed by BSI, BS 8629 (Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of evacuation alert systems for use by fire and rescue services in buildings containing flats), published in November 2019.

BAFE has made the BAFE SP207 Evacuation Alert Systems Scheme Document available to view and has launched a four-week consultation period requesting comment from the fire safety industry, Fire and Rescue Services and the wider safety industry for comment.

BSI has commented the BS 8629 Standard “exists to help ensure that systems are fit for purpose and to encourage uniformity. If systems look and function the same way in every building, firefighters won’t waste any time understanding how they work.”

In May 2020 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published a document: Government Response: Sprinklers and Other Fire Safety Measures in New High-Rise Blocks of Flats. In this it revealed that 92% of respondents believe that Approved Document B “should include a requirement for an emergency evacuation [alert] system, which could support fire and rescue services operational response by alerting residents if they need to escape.”

Government responded that “there was also strong support in the consultation responses for the inclusion of guidance on an evacuation alert system for high-rise blocks of flats, although many respondents also raised concerns about the use of this new technology.”

BAFE highlights that it was always planning to develop a Scheme to support the industry with a robust method of providing evidence of competency to work with these systems. The organisation strongly believes these systems in more buildings, when implemented correctly, will aid Fire and Rescue Services across the UK in saving lives.

The BAFE SP207 Evacuation Alert Systems Scheme consultation runs from 03/08/2020 to 31/08/2020 (closing at 11:45pm). Upon official publication, Third Party Certification for this Scheme will be available via NSI.

www.bafe.org.uk/