If you are looking to have work done on your gas boiler at home, or in the office, you would naturally expect any advertising ‘engineers’ to have the appropriate qualifications and of course most people would automatically expect to see ‘Gas Safe’ somewhere on the potential provider’s documentation, quotes and indeed on their ID.
To further protect themselves potential customers can verify the qualifications on the Gas Safe Register (I’ve done it myself)
The system isn’t foolproof but it’s reasonably robust.
The same can’t be said for anything connected with fire doors!
Incredibly, as things stand, there is no legislative requirement for anyone inspecting / surveying / installing or remediating fire doors to have any specific qualifications. If someone can physically do the work then, provided they follow the instructions correctly, that is in effect deemed to be appropriate.
There are of course a number of Third Party Certification (TPC) schemes in existence that cover various disciplines related to fire doors but membership of them is not mandatory – and to be honest nor should it be. Members of such schemes ‘sign up’ to following best practices and ensuring that their work meets appropriate standards with the ultimate goal of ensuring fire doors in the built environment are compliant – thus protecting lives and property as they are designed to do.
TPC schemes are generally very well managed and have rigid audit controls in place to monitor member performance and maintain the integrity of the schemes. Choosing a TPC member to carry out the work on your fire doors, whether it be inspecting / surveying, installing or remediating could be considered a prudent choice.
But of course clients are free to choose.
Very recently I had a ‘walk around’ with a Site Manager (Maintenance Manger might be a better description), let’s call him ‘John’ for an existing building in which there are around 1,000 people present every day. I was invited in as I was made aware of some faults with some fire doors and asked to approach the Site Managment team and advise them of the faults and need to carry out remediation works.
When I first contacted the team around June I was assured that “we are aware of the defects and they are being rectified in due course.”
Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I was advised that things were very little better so I got in touch again and this time offered to spend an hour or so on site and give my professional opinion.
Oh dear!
The fire doors ranged from pretty poor, through quite bad and culminated in pretty terrible.
Joking aside I was unable to find 1 single compliant fire door in a building where there must have been at least 200.
Not 1 single compliant fire door!
Poor John was understandably somewhat dumbstruck.
“But we have a guy in every year and he’s told us none of the things you’ve shown me! In the whole building there’s only 2 doors he has mentioned need work on!”
(I believe John was referring to the Fire Risk Assessor employed by the establishment)
“What are his credentials John?”
“I’ve no idea.”
“Does he have suitable qualifications to report on fire doors?”
“I’ve no idea.”
I went on to explain to John that a full survey of his building would probably take 2 weeks.
His reaction was enough.
Credentials
If you are a client looking to have fire doors surveyed, installed or remediated then it is vital that you verify the credentials of the person or company you employ.
If you are engaging a Fire Risk Assessor and their FRA doesn’t contain the clause:
“Are the fire doors regularly inspected by a suitable qualified person and any remedial works identified actioned within a reasonable time period? Yes / NO.
Then ask why not.
If you see a particular post-nominal (letters generally used to show a person holds a particular qualification or has completed a course of some kind) then do a little research and find out what the letters mean.
A prime example of this is DipFD – which when researched will inform you holders “cannot offer fire door inspection services “ – though of course it is often used to promote this very service.
Who do I use?
If you are responsible for fire safety in a building then to protect yourself and those in it you should ideally always engage the services of a provider who’s credentials have been verified, whether they are surveying / inspecting, installing or remediating fire doors.
For inspection services we would recommend:
The Affiliation of Fire Door Inspectors | Find A Fire Door Inspector (afdi.org.uk)
‘AAFDI’ members of AFDI have been fully vetted, their credentials verified and their report approved for content and clarity to provide confidence in the services offered.
MAFDI members of the AFDI, in addition are members of a UKAS accredited inspection scheme to provide an even greater level of confidence.
Caveat Emptor
Ultimately it is your decision which provider to use, but you would be very well advised to choose a provider that has relevant demonstrable credentials to provide the service you require, or you may end up with a headache – just like John!