The BAFE Fire Safety Register campaign discusses the importance of evidencing competency for fire safety work.
There are multiple areas of the built environment where you would categorically not want an unregulated, potentially unsafe contractor working on your building. This includes construction, electrical, gas and plumbing related works. Why, therefore, is fire safety still not scrutinised as much as these fields? BAFE, the national register for third-party certificated fire-safety organisations, have been campaigning on behalf of the fire-safety industry to champion the significance of third-party certification. The campaign – Don’t just specify, verify – highlights the second, and sometimes overlooked, verification stage when specifying an evidentially competent organisation to help meet fire-safety responsibilities.
Guidance available from Government (Fire safety in the workplace) positively encourages looking for these credentials by stating that: ‘Third-party quality assurance can offer comfort both as a means of satisfying you that goods and services you have purchased are fit for purpose, and as a means of demonstrating that you have complied with the law.’ It also notes that non-certificated organisations have ‘no obvious way’ to demonstrate competence. This raises more questions to any premises management who continues to evaluate cost vs safety by not stipulating this requirement when sourcing external contractors to achieve and maintain a fire-safe environment.
Specifying a competent, third-party certificated fire-safety organisation is a clear and responsible action to help meet your fire-safety obligations. Before awarding any contract, however, it is just as important to verify their third-party certification is appropriate and valid for the work required. This verification is extremely important, as BAFE registration or any third-party certification does not determine evidence of competency for all fire-safety services. End users (e.g. premises management/Responsible People/Duty Holders) must be vigilant to ensure they exercise due diligence and perform this verification prior to awarding contracts and permit work to begin on-site.
Dr Justin Maltby-Smith, Group Managing Director of BAFE, comments: ‘It is difficult to comprehend in this climate of health and safety requirements, and especially after Grenfell, that fire safety remains in such a position. The use of third-party certificated organisations should now be default safety behaviour. BAFE will continue to develop competency schemes available for organisations to demonstrate their competence but also provide a free national register for people to find and verify these responsible, regulated organisations who have adopted this practice to evidence their capability.’
Why is verification so important?
As aforementioned, UKAS accredited third-party certification (commonly referred to as third-party certification) is always for specific works, this in most instances will never cover all services an organisation may offer. Organisations may hold valid third-party certification for multiple services, but each service offered will have had to undergo independent assessment to provide evidence of their competency for that specific work.
Significant support
The BAFE led campaign – Don’t just specify, verify – is supported by major cross-industry bodies including UKAS, Fire Sector Federation, Construction Industry Council, Fire Protection Association, Fire Industry Association, RISC Authority, alongside multiple UKAS-accredited certification bodies, trade associations, professional bodies and more.
If you wish to show your support, please submit your information via the form available at www.bafe.org.uk/dont-just-specify-verify-show-your-support
For more information, go to www.bafe.org.uk/djsv
