| The first membership certificate was presented to Babcock Dynocorp at the scheme launch |
BAFE (British Approvals for Fire Equipment) invited key figures from the fire protection and lighting industry together with members of the press to its important launch event covering the new SP203-4 emergency lighting scheme.
This new scheme launched at the Houses of Parliament covers the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of Emergency Lighting systems. It is delivered through BAFE licensed, UKAS approved Certification bodies in the same way as other parts of SP203 and recognises the competencies required for each module. BAFE considers that all of the modules are important, but that critically the maintenance of Emergency lighting of existing systems has been overlooked.
Speakers included Sir Ken Knight, Government Chief Fire and Rescue Advisor, who highlighted the importance of third party certification and industry led schemes. CFO Iain Cox representing CFOA also emphasised the relevance of the scheme for end users to ensure that they were meeting their obligations under the Regulatory Reform (Fire) Order. Bernard Pratley and Chris Watts from ICEL gave practical examples of the importance of emergency lighting and the need for it to be properly supplied.
The guidance documents to the Fire Safety Order state: “Third-party certification schemes for fire protection products and related services are an effective means of providing the fullest possible assurances, offering a level of quality, reliability and safety that non-certificated products may lack.”
This new scheme gives this assurance for emergency lighting systems and it complements the existing modules covering fire alarms and gives the operators of premises confidence that registered suppliers of services will be trained and experienced with the necessary knowledge and tools to ensure that the emergency lighting system is appropriate for the application.
“A BAFE registered company providing commissioning and handover ensures that the system meets the design, has been installed correctly and continues to operate as required by the risk assessment,” commented Stephen Adams, general manager, BAFE. “This ensures that good quality products are correctly located to provide protection for the occupants.”
At the conclusion of the presentations Stephen Adams was pleased to announce that the first company had gained their registration to the SP203-4 scheme. Brian Camps, on behalf of Babcock Dynacorp, received the certificate from Sir Ken Knight.