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There could be hundreds of fire risk assessors operating in the UK who are not registered with accredited bodies, according to the Fire Protection Association (FPA).
The FPA has provided training for 800 people in fire risk assessments (FRAs) in the past 12 months, Howard Passey, principle consultant at the FPA, told a Fire Safety in Tall Buildings seminar today.
Mr Passey compared this number to the total number of individuals registered with three of the UK’s various accreditation bodies, which is around 300.
This, he said, showed that there are potentially hundreds of fire risk assessors operating without accreditation in the UK.
There is no legal requirement for building owners to use accredited assessors – or ‘competent persons’, as they’re known to the sector – to carry out FRAs on their buildings, but Mr Passey said he strongly advised landlords to ensure that assessors are accredited.
The Fire Risk Assessment Competency Council, a workstream made up of major stakeholders in the fire safety industry, advises: “We recommend you check that those providing [FRAs] have independent registration with, or certification from, a professional or certification body and that they meet the competency criteria established by the Fire Risk Assessment Competency Council.”
The council lists four bodies which can approve individual assessors. Of these, the Institution of Fire Engineers has 229 individuals registered with it, the Institute of Fire Safety Managers has 33, Warrington Certification has 33 and the Institute of Fire Protection Officers has 15.
This falls well short of the 800 people who have received training in the past 12 months from the FPA, which does not claim to provide full competency with its sessions.
Carl Stokes, who Inside Housing revealed in June last year as the last person to assess Grenfell Tower before the fire, is not currently on any of these registers, but it is unknown whether he was previously registered with them.
Mr Stokes was praised by Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation, the manager of the tower, for being “willing to challenge the fire brigade… if he considered their requirements to be excessive”.
Mr Passey highlighted this issue in his session, saying he had seen fire engineers advertising their services to building owners as a way of saving money by reducing fire safety provisions.
Inside Housing is calling for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.