Fire safety bodies call for change
Closing the fire safety competence gap.
The National Security Inspectorate (NSI) has joined forces with BAFE and the Fire Industry Association (FIA) to call on the UK Government to make independent third-party certification mandatory for verifying the competence of fire safety providers. Together, we are also calling for a single, authoritative register of appropriately certificated organisations.
Our joint recommendations are set out in a new report, The Fire Safety Competence Gap, based on independent research commissioned by BAFE and NSI and conducted by Sapio Research among UK decision-makers with responsibility for, or influence over, fire safety procurement.
In short, we want fire safety to have what gas safety has had for years: a single trusted register, like the Gas Safe Register, where anyone can check in seconds that the people doing safety-critical work are competent.
Awareness is up. The ability to act on it hasn’t caught up
Almost a decade after the Grenfell Tower tragedy, awareness of fire safety responsibilities has grown significantly. But the research reveals a clear gap between knowing what you’re responsible for and being able to fulfil those responsibilities in practice.
No equivalent of the Gas Safe Register for fire safety
Homeowners can check a gas engineer’s registration in seconds through the Gas Safe Register. Yet those responsible for fire safety in public buildings have no equivalent way of identifying competent providers.
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Why independent certification and a single register?
Certification by a UKAS-accredited third-party certification body, such as NSI, provides independent assessment against recognised standards, backed by ongoing monitoring. A single, authoritative register would make that assurance far easier to access – reducing the time and effort involved in checking suppliers, and giving a clearer basis for demonstrating that appropriate steps have been taken when appointing them.
Our partners at BAFE and the FIA share that view.
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