The independent registration body for UK third-party certified fire safety organisations, BAFE, has updated its standards requiring higher competence from accredited providers.
What is BAFE?
BAFE is an independent quality assurance scheme for fire detection and alarm system providers. To achieve accreditation, providers must meet the stringent criteria of the relevant BAFE Scheme, which is checked via annual assessments.
What are the updates?
The fire-safe accreditation body has recently updated its BAFE SP203-1 scheme, which covers the design, installation, commissioning and/or maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm system services.
Version 8 of the BAFE SP203-1 Fire Detection and Alarm Systems Scheme document brings a few changes. Most notable is that an organisation seeking certification must have a qualified (minimum L3 RQF) Lead individual for each module for works undertaken within scope. This Lead individual can be the same person across design, installation, commissioning, handover and maintenance, but they must be qualified in each element and be individually named.
The new standards became effective on 1 November 2023.
What will be the impact of the updates?
The new requirements will lead to a better quality of service and more qualified individuals within the fire safety industry. Organisations using a BAFE-accredited provider will have greater peace of mind that the work will be conducted to a high and safe standard.
Tamar Security has BAFE SP203-1, Design, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance accreditation. We regularly invest in training to keep our engineers up to date with the latest industry standards. Two of our engineers completed a five-day training course last month, which covered all aspects of BS5839-1:2017. It included the legislation and standards relating to fire detection and fire alarm systems along with the basic principles of fire and fire behaviour in acceptance with BS 5839-1.