ECOBuilder_Specifiers Journal 2018_2019

The Fire Industry Association:
changing the landscape of the fire safety industry
How it all began
We are the Fire Industry Association (FIA), and our story begins
100 years ago. Imagine life then – fire protection and health
and safety were nowhere near as sophisticated as it is today.
Inventors were just starting on the path to creating the first
automatic fire alarms – often trying out new ideas, testing
them, and scratching their heads as their experiments didn’t
always go as planned.
Other inventors were trying to create new products that could
extinguish fires more effectively than the old-fashioned copper
or brass fire extinguishers of the time.
In 1916, two years after the First World War had begun, people
were beginning to wish that they had a space to collaborate and
share their ideas about
fire safety products.
But no one had come
forward to create a
group in order to do this.
It was a critical time. The
War was progressing.
Public safety was at
risk. And the standard
of fire safety equipment
needed to be drastically
improved.
To tackle the problem,
the Fire Extinguishing
Trades Association (FETA)
was formed; a space to
collaborate, to share
industry knowledge, to
improve the quality of
products available at the
time. And whilst World
War One died out and
gave way in time to World War Two, FETA continued its work,
tirelessly trying to improve fire safety product standards.
Fast-forward 50 years to 1966 – the year England won the
World Cup, three years before man stepped on the moon.
Whilst FETA continued their work, the British Fire Protection
Systems Association first began – yet another space for people
in the fire industry to come together and collaborate. But two
groups working separately was not enough. They needed to be
a greater force, a greater voice.
In 2007, the two trade associations became one: the Fire
Industry Association (FIA). And although we merged and a name
change, we still aspire to the same ideal: to raise standards
across the whole of the fire safety industry. We write and
revise British Standards to give manufacturers and installers
the best possible guidance to ensure that products are safe,
reliable, and can be installed to a professional level. We care
greatly about the safety of the public, which is why we regularly
write for a range of different magazines, educating hospitals,
schools, nursing homes, and business owners on their fire
protection responsibilities. We even advise and collaborate
with government ministers to give them the best possible
information if any legislative changes are proposed.
Since 2007, the FIA has gone from strength to strength, more
than doubling our number of members in the last four years
alone to around 700 companies. We are now the prime
technical resource for the fire industry, providing a safe platform
for industry stakeholders to come together to resolve industry
issues and produce best practice guidance documents for those
that need it most.
We are not-for-profit which means that all of our funding goes
straight back into leading research projects, providing CPD days,
and giving vital seminars to our members to keep them up-todate
with the latest changes to the industry.
But who are our
members?
We have member
companies from across
the whole of the United
Kingdom in a wide range
of industries – from
fire risk assessors, to
fire engineering. Many
of our members are
manufacturers of fire
detection and alarm
systems or portable
fire extinguishers, since
these are now highly
developed pieces of
equipment that are now
rigidly guided by British
Standards for safety.
We also have a large
proportion of installers
and maintainers of nondomestic
fire alarm
systems, as well as exporters to other countries, and suppliers
to the Fire and Rescue Services – meaning that where possible,
we represent the voices of the entire fire industry. And we come
together regularly to discuss ideas, present new solutions, and
work together to improve standards of safety.
Third Party Certification
We believe in third party certification. Put quite simply, this
means getting an independent company to inspect and certify a
company to say that they have the skills and knowledge required
in order to do a job. It’s the difference between a company just
saying they know how to do a job, and a company with the
documented proof of certification and approval. Companies with
certification are usually more reliable, have better knowledge,
skills, and training, and are more able to advise about fire safety
issues. Which is why we insist that companies get certified
before they join us as a member.
Luckily, since getting certified can be slightly daunting for some
companies, we offer a Route to Certification package to help
companies get certified so that they can become members
faster. This helps new startups as well as more mature companies
to get the recognition
that they so desperately
need; being a member
gives the benefit of
being recognised by the
industry as providing the
very best in fire safety
products and services.
We care about educating
both the general public
on their fire safety
responsibilities and
creating great technicians
through our extensive
training courses.
Benefits offered to
members
Membership of the FIA
allows companies to attend our various working group and
council meetings, where they can contribute their expertise
to better the current industry standards and put forward their
research proposals. The research, if approved, is then given
funding and can be carried out. Members enjoy seeing their
projects come to life and discussing the results – some research
findings lead to new recommendations and help to improve
safety standards, for example for testing and manufacturing
new fire alarms to reduce false alarms.
But the biggest benefit that members enjoy is the ability to
network with other professionals – fire alarm manufacturers to
exporters and suppliers, for example, or suppliers of portable
fire extinguishers to network with companies that maintain fire
extinguishers. It’s all a very useful pool of industry information
and it is an excellent opportunity for companies to develop
working relationships.
Of course the other major plus point is reduced rates for
members on all of our training courses, which leads us to…
Training courses we offer
When it comes to fire safety equipment, nothing is more vital
than effective training. One of the most dangerous things a
professional can lack is sufficient training and expertise. When
it comes to fire safety equipment installation, maintenance, and
commissioning, the problem is that these pieces of equipment
are highly important for the protection of people’s lives. With
sufficient knowledge of the products, the legal requirements,
and British Standards for best practice, installers of fire safety
equipment are less likely to make errors in an arena where
making errors really could jeopardise the lives of the general
public.
It really is that simple: increased knowledge leads to greater
competence and confidence on the job.
Our trainers are professionals from within the industry. They
each are specialists within their respective fields and most
benefit from over 30 years in the industry. Together they have
created detailed training courses that benefit from their years
of experience and dedication to British Standards with the fire
industry.
Their invaluable insights and real-life examples of how theory
relates to everyday on-the-job scenarios will give a thorough
and detailed knowledge of industry best practice.
You can find out more
about our trainers on
our website, along with
a list of courses. We run
training programmes
nationwide, with a
wide range of dates and
locations.
What our delegates
say about our
training
Delegates who come to
us for training always
remark on the level of
professionalism and the
level of detailed expert
knowledge that they
benefit from.
“I sat the FIA training courses on Monday and Tuesday
this week. I thought I would drop you a quick email
to praise Chris the trainer. His delivery of the course
content was fantastic, very rarely have I attended a
course that was wholly PowerPoint based and stayed
so alert. He is clearly very knowledgeable about the
subject and this reflected in his delivery and real life
examples.”
– Dave Phelps, CIA Fire and Security Ltd, via email
“I should have done this course years ago, extremely
beneficial. The instructor was very very good!”
– Michael Broder, after attending our Unit 1: Fire
Detection & Alarm course
Free resources
So that’s us in a nutshell. We also work hard to educate
business owners and the general public about their
responsibilities for fire safety. That’s why we have a
dedicated section on our website and a handy guide on risk
assessments on our YouTube page (all the information you
need in quick video format – huzzah!). And for those in the
industry we stock all of the British Standards on our website
and have hundreds of resources about fire safety and British
Standards available that are free to download. So whether
you need information about portable fire extinguishers, or
how to cut false alarm costs – every single aspect that you
could possibly imagine to do with fire safety is there on our
website, just waiting for you to download it for free. Go on,
you know you want to.
Get in touch
www.fia.uk.com
www.youtube.com/fireindustryassociation
66 ECO BUILDER: THE SPECIFIERS JOURNAL - 2018-2019 ECO BUILDER: THE SPECIFIERS JOURNAL - 2018-2019 67