One of the main players in the shaping of a nationally agreed standard for fire risk assessors has pleaded for an end to what he sees as foot dragging by some of the bodies involved.

Simon Ince of Warrington Certification – which launched the first UKAS-accredited scheme for fire risk assessors last year – has called for the various professional bodies and trade associations to put aside any vested interests they have and support unified and standardised competency schemes.

“The competence council working group is made up of representatives of some groups that haven’t been able to raise standards in the profession since the Fire Safety Order came in to operation nearly four years ago,” he said.

“There is an opportunity to put the needs of the responsible person and end user first, but I fear it is not going to be grasped.”

In a comment piece for Info4fire.com he says everyone involved knows how to say the right things on third party certification of risk assessors and the need to raise standards, but the reality falls some way short of the rhetoric. For example, CLG had declined a request to add a reference to the importance of third party accredited certification of fire risk assessors on its website, but at the same time supports this principle in the current edition of Approved Document B. He also fears that the approach of the Fire Industry Association and BAFE to the question of the approval of fire risk assessment companies is being diluted.

“The FIA have put together some ‘interim’ measures for their members until the BAFE scheme or another accredited company scheme is available. These measures are akin to first party certification i.e. self-declaration of competence, with a two-year grace period before any third party assessment of competence has to be obtained.

“Schemes ‘for the ‘profession by the profession’ haven’t worked, and therefore it is surely time for a change of focus. Schemes for the protection of the ‘end user’ by independent accredited certification bodies would make a difference. I believe this change of emphasis could quickly drive up standards within the industry. However this can only happen with full support from all the key stakeholders.”
 

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