Gareth Evans BSc(Hons), FIFireE, .Grad.IOSH

IOSH Event

12th October 2017

Aztec Hotel,

Bristol

Third Party Certification & Registration Schemes for –

Fire Risk Assessors

Aim……….

To provide an overview and facilitate awareness of fire

risk assessment services third party certification

schemes and approved registers.

“The matter of competence of fire risk assessors

has become the big issue in fire safety.

“There is gradual recognition of the value of

registration and certification schemes for fire risk

assessors, use of third party certificated persons

and companies not only provides reassurance to

those in need of suitable and sufficient fire risk

assessments, but the use of these fire risk

assessors may well, one day, assist in

establishing a defence of due diligence if things

go badly wrong.”

IFP Journal May 2016-

“An independent fire risk assessor has been given a four month jail

sentence, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to pay £1,000 costs

after 'paying lip service' to assessing a Cheshire care home.”

“A private fire risk assessor has been found guilty of failing to provide an

adequate risk assessment to a large Newton Abbot restaurant. Mr S--------

was prosecuted by Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service appearing at

Torquay Magistrates Mr S--------- had pleaded guilty was ordered to pay a total

in fines and costs of £7,383.”

A fire safety consultant

who gave "valueless" risk

assessments has been

given a six month

suspended sentence and

180 hours of community

service.

Hold that

thought……

South Wales Fire and Rescue

Service said it hoped the conviction

would help bring in new rules to

regulate the industry.

Article 3….

The employer

The person who has control of the premises, or the owner

Article 5…

Any duty ……..shall also be imposed on every person, other than the

responsible person .. ….. who has, to any extent, control of those premises

so far as the requirements relate to matters within his/her control.”

…..if the responsible person is misled by a report produced by a contractor

that safety is delivered, when in fact safety is not delivered, the Order

provides for the consultant to be liable to prosecution and not the

responsible person.

Art 32 - (10) Where the commission by any person of an offence under this

Order, is due to the act or default of some other person, that other person is

guilty of the offence, and a person may be charged with and convicted of the

offence by virtue of this paragraph whether or not proceedings are taken

against the first-mentioned person.

Has the “responsible person” demonstrated due diligence….. done all that

would be reasonable in the circumstances ??

Q. Please explain article 32(11) in relation to due diligence?

A. 32(11) qualifies article 33. In essence a responsible person cannot claim to

have taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence if an

offence is due to the act or default of an employee (something they did or

something they should have done but did not) or is due to the act or default of

a nominated or appointed “competent person”. In the latter case this is

because the onus is on the responsible person to make sure the competent

person is indeed ‘competent’ for the task they have been nominated or

appointed for.

FSO Article 9 Risk Assessment

Must be suitable & sufficient, and

carried out by a Competent Person

‘Competent Person’ –

‘sufficient training and experience’ or

‘knowledge and other qualities’ to

enable him/her to properly carry out the task

at hand.

Who is competent to carry out a fire risk assessment?

FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT COMPETENCY COUNCIL A Guide to Choosing a Competent Fire Risk Assessor

Can I do it myself?

Duty holders – particularly in small or low-risk premises - may be able to

carry out their own fire risk assessment………

….You need, however, to know your limits…….

There are two principal methods by which people can demonstrate their

competence;

• Professional Body Registration schemes

• Certification by a Certification Body that is UKAS accredited for the

activity. (Third Party Certification)

It is important that the

person who carries out

the fire risk assessment

is competent.

It is also important that the company for whom the fire risk assessor works

has adequate management systems in place, even if the fire risk assessor is

self employed. Competence of a company to deliver fire risk assessments

can be demonstrated by third party certification of the company by a UKAS

accredited Certification Body.

Third Party Certification Scheme or Register?

BAFE SP 205 part 1 – “Life Safety Fire Risk assessments”

Fire Risk Assessors Certification Scheme (FRACS)

Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE)

Institute of Fire Safety Managers (IFSM)

Institute of Fire Prevention Officers (IFPO)

Registers of Assessors

IFE Register

IFE Register

Personal details & CV

Qualifications, FRA specific Courses,

Experience, Current Employment,

CPD

Details of FRAs carried out over last 12 months

IFE Register

Professional Review Interview

Registration

Periodic Reviews 2-3 yearly

The role of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is to accredit

third party Certification Bodies for the certification work they carry out. UKAS

is the national accreditation body recognised by Government for this

purpose. UKAS accredit Certification Bodies, against agreed standards, to

confirm they are assessing correctly against ‘scheme’ requirements.

(v) had a suitable and sufficient

risk assessment been

undertaken the deaths, or some

of them, would have been

avoided.

OF6 It is a fact relevant to the circumstances of the deaths that there was

at the time of the fire no statutory requirement as regards the qualifications

of persons who provide services in connection with the risk assessment of

care homes.

RQIA (NI) – Require

third party accredited

FRAs in all registered

premises

“This could be driven forward

across the Principality through

the all Wales protocol between

the FRS and CSSIW.”

July 2016, open letter to

SWFRS & CSSIW….

“Limited powers of WG…

…ruling out the need for risk

assessors to be accredited.”

South Wales Fire and Rescue

Service said it hoped the conviction

would help bring in new rules to

regulate the industry.

March 2017….

‘The Scottish Government should introduce a requirement for third

party fire risk assessors to be certificated or registered to ensure

competency and to help businesses receive a satisfactory and

consistent service. This could in the first instance focus on those

offering assessments/assessors working in high risk sectors,’

states the review.

Regulatory Review Group

Third party Certification

Reference to the value of third party accreditation schemes is prominent

throughout the fire safety sector.

For example:-

• Section 8 of all HMG FSO guides

• Throughout ADB of Building Regulations

• Purpose built flats guide and draft specialised housing

• DoH HTM 05-01 “Managing Healthcare Fire Safety”

3rd July 2007

5.7.2 Areas for consideration

Consideration should be given to

conducting a review as to how the

responsible person under the FSO can

be assured that their assessment of risk

is suitable and sufficient, particularly

where the premises is of higher risk. This

assurance is particularly important where

the RP may be relying on using someone

else to undertake the risk assessment

14th June 2017

FSO Guides section 8

Third-party quality assurance can

offer comfort, both as a means of

satisfying you that goods and

services you have purchased are fit

for purpose, and as a means of

demonstrating that you have

complied with the law.

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

Section 53 Third-Party Certification

“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.”

SHG Section 73

Third Party Certification..

“the use of firms that are third party

certificated by a UKAS-accredited

certification body is strongly

recommended.”

5.21 Users of this Health Technical

Memorandum are advised to

consider the benefit of third-party

certification.

Users seeking assistance in

identifying appropriate conformity

assessment bodies or schemes

should contact UKAS for advice and

further information.

Third-Party Certification is evidence that a service or product adheres to certain standards. An independent expert, the third party, has assessed the service or product and certified that it complies with those standards.

The certificated organisation is permitted to claim compliance with the scheme, display copies of their certificate and, in most cases, display the logos of the scheme and the certification body.

Depending on the scheme, the certificated organisation will also issue certificates of conformity for the product/service they provide, such as a complete fire risk assessment.

In the UK, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) validates the authority of the certification body. It is an internationally recognised organisation appointed by the government to accredit certification bodies and the schemes they deliver.

Under the criteria and other than in the case of simple, low risk premises, fire risk assessors would need to show “evidence of specialist training and experience, or membership of a professional body, or certification by a third party certification body.”

The certified assessor must show appropriate knowledge of…………

• The assessment of risk from fire (appendix A)

• Applicable legislation (appendix B)

• Appropriate guidance (appendix C)

• Behaviour of fire in premises (appendix D)

• Effects of fire on people and behaviour of people in fire

situations (appendix E)

• Means of escape (appendix F)

• Fire prevention (appendix G)

• Fire protection (appendix H – includes passive and active)

• Management of fire safety (appendix I)

BAFE

BAFE is the independent, third party certification registration organisation for the fire protection industry, bringing the benefits of third party certificated quality fire protection companies to the responsible customer.

• completely independent

• totally unbiased party to help competent companies and people in need of fire protection services find each other.

• Registering companies across the UK, both large nationals and smaller regional businesses who have all achieved the same high quality standards.

Ultimate responsibility for the adequacy of the fire risk assessment under the RRO rests with the responsible person rather than with the fire risk assessor.

However there has been enforcement action taken against Fire Risk Assessors if the responsible person has been considered to have taken all reasonable steps when appointing an assessor, but the assessor has been proved not to be competent. BAFE SP205 recognises the importance of providing fire risk assessments that comply with an acceptable set of criteria.

NSI Gold BAFE SP205 part 1, “life safety fire risk assessment”

The process…………………. ……………………………………..FRAQS123 – THE NSI QUALITY SCHEDULE FOR THE APPLICATION OF BS EN ISO 9001:2015 TO THE NSI LIFE SAFETY FIRE RISK ASSESSMENT CERTIFICATION SCHEME.

Initial application and fee payment….

……..Audit of documented Fire Risk Assessments of ALL organisations fire risk assessors……..

Initial 2 day physical audit of ISO 9001 systems, scrutiny of all policies and procedures required to attain certification.

All of the above in addition to the ISO 9001 requirements.

Then, the Certification body carry out direct end to end observation audits of

the organisations fire risk assessors and Validator.

Assessor competency requirements being a foundation element.

From arriving on site right through to production of report and document

issue.

After initial audit, assessors are audited every 6 months and office based

surveillance audits 6 -12 monthly.

*The Validator is a named person with the competencies of a fire risk assessor

and who has the responsibility and delegated authority to validate documented

fire risk assessments on behalf of the Certificated Organisation.

ALL FRAs produced by the certificated

Organisation must be Validated*.

Also subject to audit reports on 10% of all

high risk FRAs

Validator also carries out direct observation

audits of all assessors at least 6 monthly

Audit objectives: • To conduct a Surveillance Audit to determine continued

conformity of the Company’s Quality Management System with BS EN ISO 9001 and verify compliance with the product standards listed under the audit criteria.

• To evaluate the continued effectiveness of the Management System in meeting the Company’s specified objectives.

• To identify as applicable, areas for potential improvement.

Audit criteria: • To verify conformity with the requirements of BAFE SP205-1

Version 4a July 2015 and NSI Quality Schedule FRAQS123, iss3, June 2014

Report distribution: Improvement Needs and Improvement Observation Reports entered onto the NSI System.

• Cost to certified organisation - around £2200 per year

https://www.bafe.org.uk/

Actively encourage risk assessors both Companies and Individuals to seek recognised Third Party Certification/Registration

Moving forward, raising standards…………

Refer RPs to where guidance on competency of risk assessors may be found

Was the FRA “suitable and sufficient”?

Moving forward, raising standards…………

We already have an example of where it clearly was not….

Aim……….

To provide an overview and facilitate awareness of fire

risk assessment services third party certification

schemes and approved registers.

Questions

?

Thank you