Upon BAFE’s acquisition of the Fire Industry Association (FIA) Awarding Organization last year, FireQual was established and has been diligently working on developing this platform to offer qualifications for individuals working in the fire safety industry.
FireQual’s development
FireQual is pleased to announce that approval has now been achieved from both Northern Ireland’s (CCEAR) and Scotland’s (SQAA) regulatory bodies to offer qualifications covering fire safety with the initial offering concentrating on fire detection and alarm system work.
This is a momentous stage in FireQual’s development. Mission for the betterment of knowledge and skills in the fire safety industry can now begin to work with approved training centers to offer FireQual qualifications. FireQual will provide further updates on qualifications and approved training centers as and when these become available.
Fire Risk Assessment
FireQual’s next set of qualifications is already being developed in response to WG4
Not looking to stand still, FireQual’s next set of qualifications is already being developed in response to Working Group 4 (WG4) covering Fire Risk Assessors following a comprehensive response to the Grenfell Tower fire and the Fire Sector Federation’s (FSF) Fire Risk Assessor Code of Practice, regulated Fire Risk Assessment qualifications are required to help determine individual understanding and formal knowledge of this critical skill.
The FSF document (Approved Code of Practice: A National Framework for Fire Risk Assessor Competency - Version 1) states: “Thirty-two areas of core knowledge have been identified as being appropriate for demonstrating the skills, knowledge, and behavior necessary to conduct fire risk assessments,” - 5.1 Core Knowledge.
BSI Flex 8670 document
These skills, levels of Knowledge, experience, and behavior (also known as SKEB) are also a current key focus of BSI, who are developing the BSI Flex 8670 document (Built environment – Overarching framework for building safety competence of individuals – Specification) in response to events including the Grenfell Tower fire.
This document outlines knowledge to be “considered an essential building block of competence pioneering to the development of skills.” - 0.3.3 Skills knowledge and experience.
Fire Risk Assessment qualification development group
FireQual announces the formation of a Fire Risk Assessment qualification development group
Lewis Ramsay, Chairman – FireQual, commented “Following numerous requests and observing the current landscape of fire safety management, FireQual is pleased to announce the formation of a Fire Risk Assessment qualification development group to establish a strong set of qualifications covering this vital service.”
Lewis Ramsay adds, “Having a core knowledge in understanding the Fire Risk Assessment process is absolutely fundamental. We believe that the FireQual qualifications in development will create a quality benchmark for demonstrating a person holds the right knowledge to begin putting this into practice.”
The FireQual Fire Risk Assessment qualifications are currently in development with prominent industry figures providing their input. Further information regarding these qualifications will be announced when available.
Qualification Development
Other qualifications are currently in development. Nic Preston, Qualifications Manager - FireQual, comments “There are many areas of fire safety that currently do not have robust and regulated qualifications for particular skills. This is a key focus of FireQual to establish these to provide a respected avenue for individuals to determine their knowledge and skills.”