Feature Competency & Training FIA Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry
Competency
in fire safety
IN THE report produced following the
Independent Review of Building
Regulations and Fire Safety, Dame
Judith Hackitt observed the necessity to
monitor the level of competency of
individuals working within the
construction sector and related fields.
The review process identified the “lack
of a coherent approach to competence
levels and experience required – or
professional qualifications where these
may be necessary – and how these
qualifications and experience should be
evidenced so that they are clearly
understood by all those operating within
the system.”
It’s a clear message to individuals (and
organisations) who proclaim: “I know
what I’m doing” without providing any
suitable evidence of their competency to
deliver the service. Such a response
could well overlook any gaps in
knowledge and lead to them not
reacting appropriately when it comes to
any changes in relation to industry
standards or other crucial guidance.
The years following the Grenfell
Tower fire have been challenging, with
that tragic event having brought several
industry shortcomings to light. Dame
Judith Hackitt has focused on the belief
that a culture change is required. That
belief has also been championed by
Jonathan O’Neill, managing director of
the Fire Protection Association who,
during UK Construction Week back in
2019, stated: “We must see regulatory
change. Dame Judith Hackitt has said to
the construction industry: ‘You don’t
need to have legislation to effect cultural
change’. Let’s face it, we do. We need
change and we need it now.”
FireQual understands that, as part of
this culture change, there’s a need for
individuals to have access to robust and
fit for purpose, nationally and
internationally recognised qualifications
providing developmental progression
pathways through the industry.
Qualification requirements will now
be scrutinised to a far greater degree,
with the Association for Specialist Fire
Protection (ASFP) being one of the first
organisations to increase its membership
competency requirements from the
beginning of this year.
To this end, the ASFP has already
stated that it will be “mandatory for
member companies to demonstrate that
a proportion of their employees have
been suitably trained and/or have
achieved appropriate qualifications in
passive fire protection”.
Capability requirements
These developments will help kick-start
the proverbial snowball effect that will
introduce individual capability
requirements (alongside organisational
third party certification) across several
bodies. It will greatly enhance the
member quality within respected Trade
Associations and other professional
bodies in response to Dame Judith’s
report. This action will also widen the
gap between those certificated people and
others within the industry who merely
claim to follow the appropriate standards
without having any demonstrable proof
of their knowledge, skills or expertise.
In the document ‘Setting the Bar: A
New Competence Regime for Building a
Safer Future’, a major recommendation
was to “apply stringent assessment of
individuals”. It states: “For individuals
whose work materially affects safety, or
who work unsupervised, compliance
needs to be demonstrated by
independent third party assessment. All
others working on higher-risk buildings
should be supervised by individuals who
have been third party assessed as being
competent to carry out the work and to
act as supervisors.”
Stringent assessment conducted to
define ongoing individual competence
will aid in the creation of a safer
environment for all in which to work.
The British Standards Institution
(BSI) recently issued the revised version
(v2.0) of its Flex 8670 draft document
(entitled ‘Built Environment:
Overarching Framework for Building
Safety Competence of Individuals –
Specification’) for public comment. This
questions outright exactly what defines
competency for individuals. The
document asserts: “Competence is
primarily concerned with human
behaviour and is multi-dimensional,
multifaceted, inherently non-discrete
Competency-based qualifications
have become a talking point in
both the fire safety industry and
the construction sector following
reports issued in the wake of the
Grenfell Tower fire. Here, Nic
Preston deliberates on how the
education and fire safety
industries can work together on
improving individual
competencies and evidencing the
professionalism of the sector
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