Tell us about MC Fire Protection and some of the services your company provides
MC Fire Protection started 22 years ago. I started in the fire industry over 25 years ago, working for a large multinational company. This gave me an idea of how both large companies and the fire industry works. This company ran into financial trouble and I was made redundant along with a number of other employees, and I took the opportunity to finally start up MC Fire Protection.
I started on my own, supported by another business I was running and after some time, I was able to employ another fire extinguisher engineer to work with me, followed by a secretary and somebody in sales as the business developed.
Gradually, we developed our team and now have 17 people, made up of engineers and technicians, service managers, managers, fire safety consultants, admin, and finance.
We are highly accredited as we feel it is vitally important to work to high standards, and we have high standards in terms of health and safety, human resources, environmental policies, and infrastructure. That’s really where MCFP is now, providing all sorts of fire safety services in the form of fire alarms, service maintenance, and installation. We do the same with fire extinguishers, fire mist suppression systems, as well as fire safety consultancy and fire training, hydrant testing, and dry riser testing.
What does a typical customer look like to you? As you are conducting a range of services, does this differ for each service?
We have a huge range of customers. Pretty much any company, any home, and any business needs fire safety protection, and we are able to look after and serve any of those different clients. For instance, it might be a farm, a large warehouse, a factory, a police station, a college, a school, a Formula One race team, a small shop, a house in multiple occupation, student accommodation, a hotel, or a pub – anything.
We look after thousands of companies from all sorts of backgrounds and our services do change as a result. If we’re providing fire services for a farm, then it’s going to be quite different to providing fire safety services for a primary school or a Formula One racing team. We do vary things a lot and we adjust and adapt our services to fit in with the client’s needs.
What challenges do you face as a business in the industry?
I think frustration would be a better term to use than challenges. We get challenges all the time within the business because we work with mechanical objects and electronics – things break down and our job is to fix them. Sometimes that gives us challenges and we are able to handle those successfully. But I think our frustration is with some of the ‘cowboys’ that exist within the industry.
When you look at our facility, we have got a well-trained professional set of staff. We have great infrastructure and we are highly accredited. All those things cost time and money and the cost has to be passed on to our clients to ensure that they get a professional service, which conforms with whatever fire safety standards they are looking for. Some of our competitors do not do that and they just set up their services with poor education, no training, no certification, and no infrastructure, and obviously, they are a lot cheaper. We do find that some others are not really providing that honest and accurate service the client needs to help them to conform with fire safety requirements, and that is our biggest frustration.
Do you have any advice for anyone who has experienced similar frustrations and how to overcome them?
My advice would be to focus on what you’re doing, maintain your own standards, and ensure that you continue to provide that professional service.
Become associated with associations like the FPA, or large bodies like that, that are working on both sides of regulation. They can respond to government and the fire services, and can then also help their members to become better qualified and professional, which gives their customers a level of confidence. My best advice is to become associated with a body like the FPA.
What were your reasons for becoming a member of the FPA? Which resources do you find the most beneficial?
We have been a member of the FPA for many years, and I have a great deal of respect for them. They are very professional, and it is comforting for us to be a part of that. We get a lot of updates about changes in fire laws, fire regulations, and what we need to be doing to conform with that. We also get to network and mix with some of our colleagues that are also FPA members, whether they be fire companies or fire authorities – that network and that association is quite powerful.
For us, the resources that we use most would be the training. We spend quite a lot of time and money training our technicians, and we use the FPA training facility for that quite a lot.
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