Exova’s certification business Warrington Certification (WCL) has recently held a seminar at Westminster to focus on the issues faced by fire safety professionals from the social and private sectors, as the government’s approach to regulation changes.
The seminar looked at how to manage buildings safely at a time of reduced legislation from the government.
Simon Ince, manager personnel certification schemes for WCL, opened up the event with a presentation on ‘Earned Recognition’ and the governments wish to remove enforcement red tape.
He said, “It is six years since the Fire Safety Reform Order was introduced and the desire for guidance and information is still huge. People want quality advice and guidance to enable them to manage their buildings safely.
“Good management of fire safety will become more and more important over the next 12 months as the government tries to reduce regulatory enforcement across all areas.”
Guest speakers covered relevant topics including government policy on conformity assessment, passive fire protection, selection of fire safety professionals, enforcement of the Fire Safety Reform Order and strategic fire safety management.
Colin Keeley from Exova Warringtonfire talked about dangerous and often hidden fire protection installations, while Niall Rowan of the Association of Specialist Fire Protection gave examples of responsible tender writing using quality assurance certification.
Ben Bradford of BB7 gave attendees a taste of the new PAS 7 and how it can help with the management of fire safety within large or complex building portfolios, and John Bradley from London Fire and Rescue Service provided statistics and real examples of fire safety enforcement in the capital.
WCL plans to take the seminar around the country next year starting with Glasgow (January) and moving on to Manchester (April), Birmingham (June), Bristol (September), Leeds (October) and back to London (November)
