Dr Justin Maltby-Smith examines the journey towards demonstrating competence so far, notably for those undertaking fire risk assessment work
Upon the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report in September 2024, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, chair of the Inquiry stated that the named parties sharing responsibility for the fire were, for most cases, incompetent, demonstrating that the necessity for UKAS-accredited third-party certification of organisations undertaking fire and wider life safety work is long overdue
Unfortunately, there has been a longstanding trend of a lot of talk and little action when it comes to proper regulation of the fire industry using appropriate UKAS-accredited third-party certification. As far back as 2016 at the Fire Sector Summit, Brandon Lewis MP (Minister for Policing and the Fire Service at the time) said, “maintaining high standards of building and public safety requires constant vigilance”.
He added, “My expectations and my hope is that you [the fire safety industry] will continue to drive the work needed to professionalise the fire safety industry. And, by developing and promoting training and certification schemes, allowing those involved in the business of protecting our buildings from fire to extend and demonstrate their competence.” Whilst the industry has kept up its responsibility here, we would like to see stronger action from Government.
In 2017, the Fire Sector Federation, of which BAFE is a member organisation, provided their recommendations to the Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety, led by Dame Judith Hackitt. They stressed that there should be a revision to the “wording of the Guidance to reduce ambiguity and improve clarity”. They also recommended to “consider competency and the impact of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order and its relationship with the Building Regulations”. Indeed, the ‘Fire Safety in the Workplace’ fire risk assessment guidance documents currently available via the Home Office were originally published back in 2006, and BAFE would be available to support any revision of these to help the responsible person.
In 2018, Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service Fire Protection Officer Daryl Townsend said in their Facebook live stream for Business Safety Week, “I can’t emphasise enough, having a competent person carry this [fire risk assessment] out is by far better than doing it yourself … If you do have somebody in to do it, we were talking and emphasising the word competent, there are various third-party accreditation [third-party certification] schemes that you can find - generally speaking on the internet, one of which is BAFE … sitting underneath the UKAS accreditation scheme system.” Whilst this was a rare fire and rescue service endorsement of third-party certification schemes available on the market, it echoes the ‘Fire Safety in the Workplace’ guidance documents.
In 2019, at the Fire Sector Summit, Jonathan O’Neill, late Managing Director of the FPA vented his frustrations with the slow progress made since the Grenfell Tower fire. He proclaimed, “I make the plea to Government, after the General Election whoever is in power – get on with it. Make the changes in building regulations that are so obvious they really don’t require further scrutiny. Mandate third-party certification, ban single staircases in tall buildings, install sprinklers and high integrity detection and evacuation systems and ban combustible materials in all high-risk occupancies, regardless of a building’s height. This is not rocket science, so get on with it and get on with it immediately please.” Everyone in the industry who champions third-party certification as the definitive marker and evidence of competency resonated with his declaration.
Raising the bar
It was then in 2019 that we were told by Dame Judith Hackitt to not wait for regulations to “raise the bar”. In the Construction Industry Council (CIC) information published in October of that same year, Graham Watts, Chair of the Competence Steering Group (CSG) said: “This competence work will continue. We won’t rely on regulation to make it happen. We don’t need to wait to ask about the competence of people we’re appointing – we should be asking that now”.
However, in the same month at UK Construction Week, Nick Coombe MBE, Building Safety Programme Lead at the National Fire Chiefs Council, shrewdly observed that, “at the moment if you try and do the right thing, it costs more and therefore people will go to the cheapest denomination. They won’t get the [appropriate competent] people because they don’t have to. That’s a real issue at the moment, people [in the industry] are trying to change, but then they are not getting the work because the end user will look at the quotes and they don’t know the difference.
“From a fire and rescue service point of view, we are trying to promote people with third-party accreditation [third-party certification], promote the people that we want them to use so they know what they’re getting. I think a lot of people don’t know what they’re getting.”
Whilst there have made determined efforts to educate people on the importance of UKAS-accredited third-party certification over the last 10 years, including those by BAFE, there continues to be a lot of counter-information, promoted by those more interested in the “cheapest denomination” when it comes to achieving other questionable marks of approval (and subsequently implied competence). Without clarity from Government, the industry continues to debate what defines ‘competence’.
At the FIRE Conference 2020, Jonathan O’Neill again raised the lack of any consistency when it came to the definition of what competency looks like. He addressed the audience and clearly stated, “Third-party certification is the only way to guarantee the competence of installers and fire safety practitioners.”
Looking to the future
The above examples give a background to help understand the ongoing conversation and viewpoints of key industry individuals with regard to improving fire and life safety. Moving forward to 2024, BAFE and other parties have been working closely with the Home Office and it is now promising to see that the government are strongly considering the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report’s recommendations. BBC News stated in their coverage of the report publication that Prime Minister Kier Starmer says, “the government will look at implementing all 58 of the inquiry’s recommendations and respond in full within six months. Parliament will be updated annually on meeting those commitments.”
The argument for evidencing the capability of organisations/businesses (and their employed individuals) undertaking fire risk assessment work is the strongest it has ever been. Upon the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 Report, a clear recommendation was made that Government should mandate requirements to certify the competence of fire risk assessors. The recommendation in full stated:
“As we have pointed out in Chapter 12, concern has been expressed for many years about the competence of some of those offering their services as commercial fire risk assessors and the absence of any scheme of regulation to ensure that responsible persons under the Fire Safety Order can have confidence in the skill and experience of those whom they instruct to carry out fire risk assessments on their behalf. We therefore recommend that the government establish a system of mandatory accreditation to certify the competence of fire risk assessors by setting standards for qualification and continuing professional development and such other measures as may be considered necessary or desirable. We think it necessary for an accreditation system to be mandatory in order to ensure the competence of all those who offer their services as fire risk assessors.”
Grenfell Tower Inquiry: Phase 2 Report Volume 7, 113.41
Following the Lakanal House fire in July 2009, a number of organisations were asked by government to provide an industry scheme for undertaking Fire Risk Assessment work. After development, BAFE delivered this request in 2012 with its Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment scheme (BAFE SP205). BAFE continues to maintain and develop this scheme, with an extremely robust and comprehensive revision due for publication in Q1 2025. This reflects the growing requirements in evidencing that quality management is in place to monitor competency. This scheme is licensed to UKAS-accredited certification bodies to deliver the auditing process. Moving forward BAFE would work to expand the number of these bodies to increase auditing capacity to align with any mandatory requirements made by government.
Industry support
In the months leading up to the Phase 2 report’s publication, the FPA announced their new fire safety policy manifesto in July 2024. In this, the second of six key policies was to, “Ensure all fire risk assessors are appropriately qualified and certified under a suitable, UKAS-accredited scheme, as well as supported with their ongoing professional development to maintain competence.” The manifesto document continues to note that, “Establishing minimum standards for fire safety assessments ensures that poor practices are identified and rectified efficiently, thereby providing accountability, enhancing the overall safety of buildings where the public lives and works, and improving the public’s confidence in the services provided.”
The BAFE Fire Safety Register wholeheartedly agrees with this precedent, and it is encouraging to see the ongoing clear and public support of UKAS-accredited third-party certification from the FPA. The necessity for such certification is supported by many others industry bodies, including the Fire Industry Association (FIA), who demand that this level of certification be held as a joining requirement. In our view, any trade association that demands this level of evidence can be confident in their members’ ability to undertake specific works.
Competency schemes
There has previously been a divide between organisational and individual competency schemes to evidence capability. Thankfully, it is becoming more widely agreed that these two elements can work together, not in competition. Any organisation, even a sole trader, should operate a management system that includes policies, processes, and procedures to ensure they achieve their objectives and planned results. Whilst a regulated qualification is an excellent method of determining and evidencing an individual’s knowledge, this knowledge needs to be maintained, updated, and monitored in a consistent manner. This is where an organisation’s management system, directly linked to performing any fire and life safety work, is crucial and competency/training records are a key part of this system.
BAFE strongly believes that a nominated lead fire risk assessor should, at an absolute minimum, be appropriately qualified (with a defined, regulated qualification) and be responsible for supervising their team and the work being performed by the organisation. This is one of the key changes in the upcoming revision to the BAFE SP205 scheme document. This should not be a surprise to any who are aware of the current BAFE SP203-1 scheme (fire detection and alarm systems) in which regulated qualification requirements were introduced for lead roles in August 2023. Ideally, all these individuals would be suitably qualified and the BAFE schemes shall always support Government requirements and relevant British Standards/Codes of Practice.
Reducing risk
Ultimately, UKAS-accredited third-party certification schemes are made available to reduce risk to the customer, such as a responsible person or dutyholder. BAFE continues its efforts to ensure that a wide range of robust schemes are available on the market, which demonstrate substantial objective evidence of an organisation’s capability to undertake fire and wider life safety work. There is notable industry support for our ‘Don’t Just Specify, Verify’ campaign, but we are astutely aware that specification continues to be a battle within the fire industry.
Many fire safety organisations have made a positive step to voluntarily achieve third-party certification prior to any action from the Government (who have yet to mandate this for Fire Risk Assessment), and certain insurance providers. As we know many RISCAuthority members read this publication, BAFE would welcome any constructive conversations with insurers on this topic. Any collaborative actions to further encourage or demand the use of appropriately certificated fire safety organisations alongside ongoing surveillance auditing can only help to raise the competency bar and better the industry as a whole.
Now is the time for definitive action, for government to make UKAS-accredited third-party certification a requirement to perform fire risk assessment work. This is also easily written into the requirements of insurance providers, who can demand that appropriately certificated organisations are employed (i.e. organisations with relevant UKAS-accredited third-party certification). We trust this is the most ethical thing to do in the interest of life safety.
Further information is available on the BAFE Fire Safey Register website at www.bafe.org.uk
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Dr Justin Maltby-Smith CEng FIET CMgr FCMI is Group Managing Director at BAFE