Concerning New Trends
Are you getting requests like these?
Since the legislative amendments, 1 July 2020, there have been notable increases in new client requests for urgent annual certification of Fire Safety Measures.
While on face value, these are great new business opportunities, fire contractors need to exercise their due diligence and ask the important questions.
Questions like,
What is the reason that the incumbent CFSP (fire contractor) is not endorsing the assessed fire measure/s?
Are there existing Defects that have been identified and reported to the building owner?
Have these Defects been rectified?
Have the Defects been logged so the next fire contractor can properly vette all the defects that were found?
Why? Well, to understand what the reason is that the building owner is looking to jump ship? And, there’s plenty of reasons that Building Owners want to make a change in their Fire Contractor.
- Unprofessional service
- Little or no communication
- Consistent lateness
- Lack of experience and knowledge
- Low initial PM quote, followed by high priced quotes for service and rectifications.
- Lots of ’non-compliances and defects'
- Can't endorse fire measure because doesn’t have adequate FPAS Accreditation to be CFSP.
Either real or perceived, all relate to the contractor making the owner's life more problematic when it comes to fire safety systems.
The latter two, are particularly prominent reasons that building owners go shopping.
The new legislative changes mean that a CFSP must be FPAS accredited to assess Fire Safety Measures and that they can no longer endorse those FSMs that they are not accredited for, at risk of penalty or removal of all accreditation. In turn, this has left some Building Owners out in the cold and desperately looking for new CFSPs that can complete their Annual Certification in time.
But it's not as simple as having another contractor sign off.
If a building owner changes fire company because they cannot get sign off, any new fire contractor is going to require to re-perform thorough testing and inspection of the site.
Actually there is a repetitive cycle that seems to occur where, a building owner has engaged a limited knowledge fire contractor and is dissatisfied with the service, moving to a more experienced fire contractor.
The new contractor, with greater understanding of compliance requirements, ends up finding more non-compliances and defects, than the previous contractor ever did with their limited knowledge.
These revelations astound the building owner, who sees this simply as gouge at their bank balance, and questions why these defects seem to have magically appeared when the site had been signed off so times prior without issue.
Again dissatisfied, the building owner heads off to find a cheaper contractor option yet again, ignoring or deferring defect rectification and their responsibility to compliance, and the cycle continues.
But the fact remains, Annual Certification (AFSS) is against Performance Measures as per EP&A 2000, and not maintenance codes, and will, without doubt, uncover non-compliances and defects, either existing or new, that must be reported to, and rectified by, the Building Owner within the 3 months prior to the Annual Certification date. Non-rectified defects can delay meeting AFSS obligations and inflict further financial stress.
And this is, in turn, causing a new concerning upward trend.
Building Owners that are aware of reported defects on their buildings are looking to change their fire contractor in order to defer or avoid the cost of rectification of non-compliances and defects for another 12 months or altogether if possible.
Previously identified defects are withheld in the hope that the new fire contractor will not identify them or worse, endorse the annual assessment irrespective of the defects.
In short, they are looking for a quick fix to avoid dealing with defects. Which demonstrates a lack of appreciation of what the annual fire certification process to looking to achieve.
A commitment to Life Safety.
Annual Certification of Fire Safety Measures share similarities with other more commonplace annual certification processes we all have experience with.
For instance, as the owner of a vehicle and obtaining Roadworthy Certificates for Vehicle Registration.
After three years, your new car requires a roadworthy certificate issued for compliance by a certified Mechanic or Inspection party.
We all know if something fails on your car, the certified mechanic, will not issue the Road Worthy Certificate. However, to avoid delays in issuing the RWC, the mechanic will identify the defect, quote to rectify it, and on approval will fix the item/s, so the RW certificate can be issued.
To illustrate the point further, let's say your vehicles front right indicator is not working.
The purpose of the vehicle indicator is to inform other motorists and pedestrians of your intention to turn or pull over.
If this system is not operating, then it not only creates a real safety issue, it is a failure to meet the required roadworthy criteria.
Chances are that the indicator has not been operating for time too, only creating additional financial pressure to fix so you can re-register your vehicle.
Now let's look at a comparative example relative to fire systems.
Let's say the fire extinguishers in your building are missing signage as required under the installation code listed on the AFSS Fire Safety Schedule.
The signage is required to clearly show the location of the fire extinguishers to any person that might be in the building. Even if they are only visiting, and are not familiar with the building at all.
Failure to have the extinguisher signs is a defect, which must be rectified before this Fire Measure can be correctly endorsed by the CFSP.
This items seem minor, however, again many a time defects like this just have never been addressed or rectified.
Yes, this is a simplistic comparison and Essential Fire Services can be vastly more complex AND in reality, to play both sides, there are still ‘Certified Mechanics’ out there that aren’t holding their end up either, as there's no doubt that the knowledge and understanding of fire contractors vary widely too.
In fact, some still exist that demonstrate extremely limited knowledge of industry codes, regulations and how to apply them, yet are still signing off buildings.
The new legislative changes are looking to change this ‘fake it until you make it’ thinking in fire contractors and bring a greater commitment to compliance from building owners.
Ultimately, while it's the owners right to seek, second opinions, the new changes remind the building owner that it's a fire contractors duty of care to ensure that non-compliance is reported and that the owner’s responsibility to rectify that which has been brought to their attention cannot be waived.
Given that there are over 500 applicable industry codes and standards to adhere to, plus the fact that every site is fingerprint unique, there will need to be an increase in the collaboration and education for all stakeholders to realise the goals of Life Safety.
Feel welcome to share your thoughts, feedback or experiences!