FIA Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry The Impact of Brexit Feature
Therefore, it has become somewhat
more difficult to recruit fire
professionals from overseas and, as such,
organisations must first look to employ
UK fire professionals.
With a reduced access to the labour
market, it’s perfectly understandable that
organisations are concerned they might
not be able to recruit the right talent and
at the right time. This has led to an
increase in the necessity to continue to
raise the level of professionalism for
those working in the fire industry in
order to try and fill the Brexit-related
skills shortage that has developed.
For several decades now, the FIA has
worked tirelessly to raise the bar on
professionalism for fire safety
practitioners around the world. The
majority of the training we conduct,
though, is with professionals working in
the UK fire safety industry.
COVID-19 threw a proverbial
spanner in the works as Government-imposed
national lockdowns realised the
closure of our classroom training. The
necessity for fire professionals to
continue their training remains the same
whether there’s a pandemic in play or
not because competent professionals are
essential at all times when thoughts turn
towards life safety-centric systems.
On that last note, if you want to find
out more about how our industry-leading
training can help in raising the
bar for professionalism within your
organisation, contact the FIA’s training
manager Michael Gregg via e-mail at:
mgregg@fia.uk.com
Import costs, export tariffs
Our survey shows that around 30% of
respondents claimed to be concerned
about changes to the way in which they
import and export goods and materials,
etc. A huge change such as Brexit
requires organisations in the UK to be as
well informed as they possibly can be on
the latest changes as they happen.
Here at the FIA, we’ve had our ear to
the ground on a continual basis in a bid
to ensure we’re the first to learn about
crucial Brexit-related information –
directly from the Government – for the
fire safety industry so that we can then
relay it directly to our members.
Through our strong working
relationships with several central
Government departments, we have been
– and will continue to be – well
positioned to relay vital information. For
instance, our direct contact with civil
servants at the Department for
International Trade’s UK Defence and
Security Exports division has enabled us
to speak with them directly on Brexit
issues raised by members. The
personnel involved include the assistant
head of security exports, the industry
relationship manager and the principal
fire and security advisor.
Further, our Export Council has a
permanent agenda item on Brexit that
provides a forum for raising and
discussing post-EU issues, while our
FIRESA Council has provided salient
and timely advice to the Fire and Rescue
Services on maintenance of the supply
chain in the transition period and,
indeed, post-Brexit.
For more information on how to
become involved with the FIA’s Export
Council and, indeed, the FIRESA
Council, contact Dave Smith (the FIA’s
export manager) via e-mail at:
dsmith@fia.uk.com
Voice of the industry
As an organisation, the FIA has explored
in detail the impact Brexit has exerted
on the UK’s fire industry in recent times
and also looked ahead to assess what the
future impacts might be. In doing so,
this has allowed us to see how we’ve
helped our members to date and also
how we can continue to provide world-class
support in a number of different
areas moving forward.
While it still remains unclear as to
what the actual impacts of Brexit will be
in the years to come, one thing is
certain: the FIA will continue to be the
voice of the fire safety industry and, as a
result of doing so, afford its members
the very best chance to ensure that
Brexit can have a net positive effect on
themselves, their businesses and, indeed,
the UK’s fire safety industry at large. •
Adam Richardson is Operations
Manager at the Fire Industry
Association (www.fia.uk.com)
The FIA will continue to be the voice of the fire safety industry
and, as a result of doing so, afford its members the very best
chance to ensure that Brexit can have a net positive effect on
themselves, their businesses and, indeed, the industry at large
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specific, tangible and local issues that we
together, as an industry, can directly
influence to a greater degree.
In essence, through tackling issues
readily within our grasp, the fire safety
industry places itself in the best possible
position to influence whether Brexit will
have a positive impact for the sector in
the years ahead.
Concerns over Brexit
Our survey evidenced that there are
several key areas of concern for the fire
safety industry when Brexit is the topic
of discussion, among them the skills
shortage, import costs and export tariffs.
No less than 80% of respondents are
fearful that Brexit may lead to a skills
shortage in the fire safety industry. With
much work currently being transacted
to improve fire safety right across the
UK, ensuring a steady supply of
qualified fire professionals is going to be
of paramount importance.
For better or worse, another
motivation behind Brexit was for the
UK to be in control of its own borders.
As a direct end product, the free
movement of labour has since come to a
halt in the post-Brexit landscape.
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