In the trade?

I am a marketing manager of a number of trade associations representing the fire protection industry.

The British Fire Protection Systems Association (BFPSA), Fire Extinguishing Trades Association (FETA) and the Independent Fire Engineering & Distributors Association (IFEDA) have all made independent third party certification mandatory for their members to set a benchmark of quality and performance.

Of the circa 300 fire protection companies who are members of the associations, most have chosen BAFE or LPCB schemes. Those that have chosen a BAFE scheme can have their work certificated by a UKAS-accredited independent third party certification body such as BSI, LPCB, NSI, SSAIB, UL and others. The choice opens the inspection fees to healthy competition.

The British Fire Consortium has recently tried to emulate the three main trade associations by introducing a certification scheme that is assessed by themselves ie self-certification, not UKAS, third party independent certification.

While I do not wish to derogate the BFC scheme, it is important that users of fire protection systems and services are aware of the fundamental difference between a self-regulated scheme, whereby the trade association sets the standard and polices it, and schemes administered and policed by independent UKAS-accredited bodies that have no allegiance other than ensuring that the highest possible standards are maintained.

With the impending Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRO) currently going through the parliamentary process, the changes in fire safety legislation means that the role of certification has never been more important. The RRO firmly places a responsibility on the ‘responsible person’ to ensure the safety of all the individuals for which that person is directly or indirectly responsible.

The responsible person may have no real experience of fire protection products so it is vital that they are able to call upon schemes that have been set up to demonstrate the competencies of the products and persons involved in the fire protection process. We believe that third party certification is the most effective way of fulfilling this, with the independence of the certifying bodies a key component.

I trust that this helps to overcome any confusion that may exist in the market between different schemes in operation.

Terry Martiny, Marketing manager BFPSA and FETA