FPA enhances membership scheme to further support fire safety and construction professionals

The Fire Protection Association is pleased to announce several updates to its membership scheme in response to both the evolving fire safety landscape and feedback from its members

Membership of the FPA supports fire safety professionals in their roles by providing access to comprehensive fire safety advice, guidance, and resources, including continuing professional development (CPD) and education opportunities aimed at improving competence.

Introducing the new membership scheme, FPA CEO Dr Gavin Dunn said “Our membership offering underscores our commitment to supporting fire safety and construction professionals with the challenges they face on a daily basis through the provision of technical expertise and guidance. This is more important now than ever following the introduction of the Building Safety Act and as the nature of risk continues to evolve. We all have a responsibility to ensure we are continuously developing our knowledge and have direct access to relevant, technically accurate guidance to enable us to successfully protect both life and property from the risks of fire.”

New membership categories

Following member feedback, the FPA membership scheme is now divided into three simpler category types – Individual, Small Business, and Corporate – which differentiate between company size to ensure appropriate access to the technical advice and guidance resources within the Members’ Area of the FPA website. Current FPA members will be migrated to their new member category on their renewal date, whilst new members will automatically be enrolled onto the updated scheme.

New member benefits

The launch of the revitalised scheme also sees new benefits introduced to support members with collaborative opportunities for influence and engagement as well as ongoing CPD:

Input to FPA guidance and research – To help shape the future of fire safety through regular two-way dialogue and meaningful input, members will now be invited to contribute to:

• current and upcoming FPA guidance
• research conducted by the FPA for insurers, government, regulators, and the industry
• and FPA responses to government/sector consultations. 

CPD webinar programme – FPA members will benefit from an even busier calendar of CPD-approved webinars in 2025, which can be accessed live online or watched on demand in the Members’ Area. The programme will see subject experts tackling technical and strategic issues including modern methods of construction, fire prevention on construction sites, wind turbines, fire risk assessor competence frameworks, the LPC Sprinkler Rules for Automation Sprinkler Installations, and efficacy and professional indemnity insurance. Following their success in 2024, quarterly member-exclusive Q&A webinars will continue, with the FPA’s technical consultants inviting questions on key topics such as the government’s response to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Report.

E-courses – Providing an introductory overview of vital areas within fire safety including hot works, the role of a fire warden, fire door inspections, and personal emergency evacuation plans, the FPA’s suite of e-courses is now available to FPA members to increase awareness and understanding of legislation, individual duties, and best practice.

New membership scheme overview

With more new benefits to come throughout 2025!

Digital Fire & Risk Management journal – With several FPA members consuming the journal online, work is underway to significantly improve the digital version of Fire & Risk Management through the creation of a fully digitalised and interactive reader experience, featuring audio and video content, and search functionality across all issues. The digitised journal will be available to members from Spring 2025, alongside the printed version.

Technical Mini Guides – To support members with digesting the complex and comprehensive industry guidance produced by the FPA, the suite of mini guides available to FPA members will be enhanced throughout 2025 to provide a high-level overview of key guidance areas.

Training Information Packs – Produced by the FPA Training team, packs will include presentations and handouts covering fire safety inductions, fire warden awareness, and managing risk in the workplace to enable Small Business and Corporate members to provide basic knowledge to colleagues.

Downloadable business templates – Members will be able to download a range of templates and checklists to support their business operations including arson prevention risk assessment, fire wardens, job adverts, CVs, and more!

New Membership Code of Professional Conduct

The final update to the FPA’s membership scheme is the introduction of a Code of Professional Conduct. In the interest of improving competence and the wider sharing of expert advice and guidance, FPA membership is open to all with a remit for fire safety. Whilst membership does not accredit or endorse member products or services in any way, all new and renewing members are now required to commit to the FPA Membership Code of Professional Conduct which sets out the expectation for the behaviour of members in the areas of integrity, professional behaviour, and professional competency.

Having led on the creation of the enhanced membership offering, the FPA’s James Stone said: “Our research and guidance are at the core of our membership scheme, especially when it comes to ensuring our members have access to what they need, when they need it, to carry out their day-to-day responsibilities. We have introduced mechanisms for our members to formally contribute to our work as the UK’s national fire safety organisation, and to make clear the standards that FPA members commit to as part of their membership, and therefore the standards that their customers should rightly expect, through the Code of Conduct.” 

Find out more about becoming a member of the UK’s national fire safety organisation here.