The route to BAFE registration
‘Should we be BAFE registered?’ is a question many fire safety companies are currently asking along with ‘What are the benefits?’ ‘How do we do it?’ and ‘How much does it cost?’ Of the 250 member companies of the British Fire Consortium (BFC), the industry’s largest trade association which undertakes its own quality audit for members, several members have also decided to become BAFE registered.
Roger Chamberlain, General Secretary of the BFC explains, “The BFC is unique in being the only trade association in the portable extinguisher industry which welcomes member companies who are not ISO 9001/BAFE registered. Currently, the basic measure of competency in portable fire extinguisher maintenance is that a technician should have passed an examination of competence by one of the recognised Trade Associations -such as our own BFC examination. By doing this and also adhering to our own stringent quality standards of commercial and working practice, these members will be able to present correct and professional credentials to their clients. However, we support the BAFE quality certification scheme as a forward development path for member companies and individuals on a market driven basis.”
BFC member, Classic Fire Ltd, is a small independent company based in Cornwall. This article explores why it decided to take the BAFE route, and what it entailed for Managing Director, Mart Rogers, and his team.
Mart set up Classic Fire in 2003 after a previous business partnership dissolved. His wife runs looks after the company administration, and Mart and his engineer, Paul Pirrot, work throughout the South West supplying and maintaining portable fire extinguishers, fitting signage and first aid equipment, maintaining fire alarms and running staff fire safety training courses. Their customer base is varied and includes local airports, tourist sites such as museums, local schools, retail, industrial and transport companies.
Mart initially joined the British Fire Consortium to ensure he had access to the levels of training and technical information he was used to when he worked for a large extinguisher maintenance company. As a small business he was also keen to network with similar companies and take advantage of the BFC’s own accreditation system or ‘health check’ as he calls it.
Around two years after starting up his business, a couple of factors led Mart to start considering BAFE registration. Firstly, he believed that the new Fire Regulatory Reform Order, with its requirement for companies to employ a “competent” person, would lead to an increased demand for companies with a widely recognised third party accreditation. Secondly, the conditions of BAFE SP101, the quality specification which relates to the Contract Maintenance of Portable Fire Extinguishers, demand that any sub contractor employed by another BAFE registered company, should also be audited against the specific requirements of BAFE SP101. Therefore Mart’s company needed to be BAFE registered before he could undertake any trade work for his fellow BFC members if they themselves were BAFE registered. This was an important consideration as the BFC has a strong networking ethos with members frequently pooling specialist skills and manpower.For a company to comply with the requirements of BAFE SP101, its quality management systems have to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2001. Mart therefore employed Rob Meldrum of Quality Aspects, a consultancy which helps companies develop quality systems to meet ISO and other quality standards. Rob visited Classic Fire seven times between January and April 2006 analysing and logging every aspect of the business including customer records, invoicing, contracts, engineer training courses etc. These visits culminated in a meticulously compiled quality manual for the company which met the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and a visit from the Independent European Certification representative who came to conduct the actual audit. “It was an intense day”, remembers Mart, “with the inspector working on his lap top most of the day checking every aspect of our manual. Then I had to discharge test a foam extinguisher and recharge it in front of him, talking him through the whole procedure.”
“If you have good systems in place prior to going for BAFE registration, then you won’t have to do things any differently”, explains Mart. “We had always worked to the British Fire Consortium’s standards and those of BS 5306 Part 3 anyway. The only thing which is changed is that now we have everything set out in a manual. You could say that we had always worked by the book - but now we actually have the book to prove it!”
A further aspect of BAFE registration is the requirement for all engineers working for the BAFE registered company to comply with the requirements of BAFE ST104 which is BAFE’s “Registered Service Technicians Scheme for Contract Maintenance of Portable Fire Extinguishers”. This is a compulsory part of the registration and meant that both Mart and Peter had to prepare portfolios and were observed carrying out practical maintenance tasks by an inspector.
Classic Fire paid around £2000 for the consultancy services of Quality Aspects, a further £500 for the registration fee itself and also pay an ongoing fee of £20 per engineer per month to maintain Mart and Peter’s ST104 certifications.
Mart concludes, “We took the decision to become BAFE registered for commercial reasons. Because of the amount of trade work we do, and the niche markets we work in, I believed it would be a real benefit to us.”
Nine months on, Mart has calculated that business is already 15% up on last year because of the BAFE registration. He says that certain new clients, such as car dealerships have insisted on BAFE accreditation because it’s demanded by their insurance companies. “In my opinion, he says, “BAFE registration is helping me to protect the business I already have and is opening new doors too.”
Reproduced by kind permission of FSE
Roger Chamberlain, General Secretary of the BFC explains, “The BFC is unique in being the only trade association in the portable extinguisher industry which welcomes member companies who are not ISO 9001/BAFE registered. Currently, the basic measure of competency in portable fire extinguisher maintenance is that a technician should have passed an examination of competence by one of the recognised Trade Associations -such as our own BFC examination. By doing this and also adhering to our own stringent quality standards of commercial and working practice, these members will be able to present correct and professional credentials to their clients. However, we support the BAFE quality certification scheme as a forward development path for member companies and individuals on a market driven basis.”
BFC member, Classic Fire Ltd, is a small independent company based in Cornwall. This article explores why it decided to take the BAFE route, and what it entailed for Managing Director, Mart Rogers, and his team.
Mart set up Classic Fire in 2003 after a previous business partnership dissolved. His wife runs looks after the company administration, and Mart and his engineer, Paul Pirrot, work throughout the South West supplying and maintaining portable fire extinguishers, fitting signage and first aid equipment, maintaining fire alarms and running staff fire safety training courses. Their customer base is varied and includes local airports, tourist sites such as museums, local schools, retail, industrial and transport companies.
Mart initially joined the British Fire Consortium to ensure he had access to the levels of training and technical information he was used to when he worked for a large extinguisher maintenance company. As a small business he was also keen to network with similar companies and take advantage of the BFC’s own accreditation system or ‘health check’ as he calls it.
Around two years after starting up his business, a couple of factors led Mart to start considering BAFE registration. Firstly, he believed that the new Fire Regulatory Reform Order, with its requirement for companies to employ a “competent” person, would lead to an increased demand for companies with a widely recognised third party accreditation. Secondly, the conditions of BAFE SP101, the quality specification which relates to the Contract Maintenance of Portable Fire Extinguishers, demand that any sub contractor employed by another BAFE registered company, should also be audited against the specific requirements of BAFE SP101. Therefore Mart’s company needed to be BAFE registered before he could undertake any trade work for his fellow BFC members if they themselves were BAFE registered. This was an important consideration as the BFC has a strong networking ethos with members frequently pooling specialist skills and manpower.For a company to comply with the requirements of BAFE SP101, its quality management systems have to meet the requirements of ISO 9001:2001. Mart therefore employed Rob Meldrum of Quality Aspects, a consultancy which helps companies develop quality systems to meet ISO and other quality standards. Rob visited Classic Fire seven times between January and April 2006 analysing and logging every aspect of the business including customer records, invoicing, contracts, engineer training courses etc. These visits culminated in a meticulously compiled quality manual for the company which met the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and a visit from the Independent European Certification representative who came to conduct the actual audit. “It was an intense day”, remembers Mart, “with the inspector working on his lap top most of the day checking every aspect of our manual. Then I had to discharge test a foam extinguisher and recharge it in front of him, talking him through the whole procedure.”
“If you have good systems in place prior to going for BAFE registration, then you won’t have to do things any differently”, explains Mart. “We had always worked to the British Fire Consortium’s standards and those of BS 5306 Part 3 anyway. The only thing which is changed is that now we have everything set out in a manual. You could say that we had always worked by the book - but now we actually have the book to prove it!”
A further aspect of BAFE registration is the requirement for all engineers working for the BAFE registered company to comply with the requirements of BAFE ST104 which is BAFE’s “Registered Service Technicians Scheme for Contract Maintenance of Portable Fire Extinguishers”. This is a compulsory part of the registration and meant that both Mart and Peter had to prepare portfolios and were observed carrying out practical maintenance tasks by an inspector.
Classic Fire paid around £2000 for the consultancy services of Quality Aspects, a further £500 for the registration fee itself and also pay an ongoing fee of £20 per engineer per month to maintain Mart and Peter’s ST104 certifications.
Mart concludes, “We took the decision to become BAFE registered for commercial reasons. Because of the amount of trade work we do, and the niche markets we work in, I believed it would be a real benefit to us.”
Nine months on, Mart has calculated that business is already 15% up on last year because of the BAFE registration. He says that certain new clients, such as car dealerships have insisted on BAFE accreditation because it’s demanded by their insurance companies. “In my opinion, he says, “BAFE registration is helping me to protect the business I already have and is opening new doors too.”
Reproduced by kind permission of FSE