Fire Industry Association (FIA) News

Life during and immediately after COVID-19 will change the way one lives, especially the work patterns. Marketers have historically done everything in their power to get people to read their stories, watch their videos and absorb their advertisements. The enemy is the lack of time in the working day. In the last 2 months, there has been a paradigm shift in what is now labeled as the ‘new normal’, as an unprecedented amount of people have had the majority of their work and/or social...

Throughout April and into the foreseeable future the FIA will continue providing its online CPD sessions across the breadth of the fire industry with '99% of delegates saying that the training meets their needs well to extremely well and 98% are satisfied or very satisfied with the CPD content. Hundreds of enthusiastic delegates took part in the FIA’s second industry-recognized online CPD day. The fire industry has adapted incredibly well to the impacts of COVID-19 and it has not hindered...

In a story in the Irish Times, the use of technology using satellites and drones is being used to detect and deter wildfire starters. Conditions for the spread of fires in uplands areas, which break out annually in March and April are said to be “perfect” for forest fires after a long dry spell. Winds could also cause fires to spread faster. Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed warned that satellite imagery was being “carefully monitored” to detect when farmers or...

Ian Moore CEO of the FIA encourages business to join Dame Carolyn Fairbairn (Director-General, CBI) and The Rt Hon Alok Sharma MP (Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) for an invaluable discussion on UK business and economy - including: An update on the government’s major support packages including the JRS, and access to finance An overview of the government’s thinking on the UK’s recovery plan Advice on how businesses can help the government ef...

BAFE, British Approvals for Fire Equipment has announced that it welcomes the statement from the UK Home Office, regarding the Key Worker status for all fire industry employees, providing essential services, as published by the FIA, Fire Industry Association. The BAFE statement added that the organization was grateful for the FIA initiative to clarify this. Key Worker Status directly to FIA The Minister of State for Security, the Rt. Hon James Brokenshire, MP in the UK Parliament, has written...

SSAIB were overcome with pride upon discovering that registered firm PLP Fire Protection have been providing invaluable assistance in the building of the Government’s first emergency field hospital at the ExCel in London. The temporary NHS Nightingale hospital has been set up to treat up to 4,000 coronavirus patients, with Dorset-based PLP Fire Protection helping to transform the ExCel exhibition space – which was due to host IFSEC International and FIREX International next month, be...

Whilst the Grenfell Inquiry has been paused due to COVID-19, ministers have announced another overhaul of building regulation to improve fire safety. The measures, which will apply to all new builds over 11 meters, come as part of a wider government initiative to improve fire safety following the tragic Grenfell Tower. This new fire safety program comes a month after Rishi Sunak announced £1bn to remove all types of dangerous cladding with the new Building Safety Fund. A new system of fi...

While the Grenfell Inquiry has been paused due to COVID-19, ministers have announced another overhaul of building regulation with the aim to improve fire safety. The measures, which will apply to all new builds over 11 meters, come as part of a wider government initiative to improve fire safety following the tragic Grenfell Tower. This new fire safety program comes a month after Rishi Sunak announced £1bn to remove all types of dangerous cladding with the new Building Safety Fund. announc...

FIA CEO Ian Moore would like to share some of the work that the fire industry is doing in the fight against coronavirus. “Heroes is not a word I use often as they are not just people doing the job they volunteer for and carry it out for a salary, it is about people that go above and beyond what is expected for the good of others." Recognizing PLP Fire Protection "Heroes come in many guises and we have plenty of them highlighted (and rightly so) right now in the NHS and emergency service...

FIA CEO Ian Moore has just discussed the release of the below statement with Susan Revell, Standards Development Manager at BSI, and would like to share the information, help, and guidance offered by BSI, “Following the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19), BSI has examined how we can support the collective efforts to mitigate the risks to organizations, caused by this global health issue." 11 standards to help guide businesses "After careful consideration, we have made available 11...

Hochiki Europe, a renowned manufacturer of life safety solutions, has partnered with the FIA (Fire Industry Association) to host a roundtable discussing best practice when it comes to life safety in Houses of Multiple Occupancy (HMOs). Panelists were made up of professionals involved throughout the life safety procurement chain, including representatives from the manufacturing, facilities management, consultancy/specification and installation sectors, as well as the FIA itself. selecting emerge...

The Security Systems and Alarms Inspection Board (SSAIB) is a certification body for organizations providing security systems and services, fire detection and alarm systems, telecare systems and services, manned security services and monitoring services. In this challenging time, with the closure of many business and the Prime Minister’s statement to further restrict movement, it is important to ensure the vital national work that the private security industry firms carry out is recognize...

Recently, James Brokenshire, Minister of State for Security at the Home Office stated, “Security and fire safety personnel can play a vital role at this time of national challenge. People working in these sectors who are essential to national infrastructure are ‘key workers’ for the purposes of the Government’s guidance on COVID-19.”  While the Fire Industry Association is continually seeking further clarification from the Government on the issue, Ian Moore, C...

The Fire Industry Association (FIA) is continuously seeking further clarification from the Government's position on this issue after Boris Johnson's speech on Monday 23rd at 20:30. FIA CEO Ian Moore has been in discussions with the Home Office on this subject over the last few days. FIA CEO Ian Moore says, “We have received hundreds of calls requesting clarification on what is meant by the Home Office statements. My first response is to be pragmatic about what you deem to be important und...

In this unprecedented time of a Global COVID-19 Pandemic, Euralarm informed users a few weeks ago about the Board’s decision to postpone its annual event that was planned on May 27th. The General Assembly, Industry Forum and 50th-Anniversary celebrations, and subsequent Section meetings, are rescheduled to October 29th and 30th, in the same location as previously communicated at the Renaissance Hotel in Brussels.   Extraordinary General Assembly Euralarm will run essential administ...

The proposed Fire Safety Bill will ‘amend the Fire Safety Order 2005 to clarify that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must manage and reduce the risk of fire for: The structure and external walls of the building, including cladding, balconies, and windows. Entrance doors to individual flats that open into common parts. This clarification will empower fire and rescue services to take enforcement action and hold building owners...

The new fire safety bill, announced by the UK government post consultations with FIA (Fire Industry Association) and fire industry experts, aims to help people feel safe in their homes around the country, whilst ensuring that a fire related tragedy similar to that of Grenfell Tower fire never happens again. Fire Safety Bill The proposed Fire Safety Bill will amend the Fire Safety Order 2005 to clarify that the responsible person or duty-holder for multi-occupied, residential buildings must man...

In line with the latest Government instruction to close all educational settings due to the current Coronavirus pandemic, the FIA will be changing the way it delivers courses, exams, and CPD. From Monday 23rd March 2020, FIA has moved to deliver its training to an online platform allowing students to learn from the comfort and safety of their homes during this period of enforced self-isolation. It will be delivered live by FIA's professional instructors with the opportunity to interact through...

The FIA Export Council and all of ‘FIA Exporters’ are aware that they work closely with the Department for International Trade [DIT] and its Defence and Security Organisation [DSO], in respect of promoting the fire sector’s export interests overseas. The FIA is writing to highlight the opportunities for industry sector specialists to work within DIT DSO on time-limited projects to support UK exports. As part of the new 2019 Security Export Strategy, DIT DSO are seeking support...

FIM Expo and the Northern Ireland Fire Industry Conference, which were originally scheduled to be staged on 22nd and 23rd April 2020 respectively, will be held in October 2020, still in the Titanic Centre, Belfast. As users can probably imagine, this is due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19). This decision has been made as a result of consultation with exhibitors, local companies, scheduled attendees, the event site, and other stakeholders to determine the best outcome for all. COV...

2020 is set for a series of important changes in the UK-EU relation. The FIA will keep users updated so that users can stay ahead. Post 31/12/2020 (unless there is an agreement to the contrary) the EU will not recognize engineer’s F Gas certificates issued through a UK agency such as the FIA (Fire) and other providers. Engineers UK certificate As quite a sizeable percentage of the refrigeration engineers in Ireland and about 95% of the Fire engineers are certified through UK agencies th...

The Northern Ireland Fire Industry Conference will take place on Thursday 23rd April at the Titanic Centre in Belfast, a monument to Belfast's maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city's Titanic Quarter where the RMS Titanic was built. In today’s competitive and ever-changing industry, it is now more important than ever to keep up to date with the latest industry developments, which is why this conference serves as an opportunity to all fire indus...

The Fire Industry Manufacturers’ (FIM) Expo is heading to Northern Ireland this spring with a one-day stop on Wednesday, 22nd April to the impressive Titanic Centre in the heart of Belfast, Ireland. Organized by the Fire Industry Association (FIA), FIM Expo features many of the UK's renowned fire detection and alarm manufacturers and focuses on showcasing the latest products and developments in this sector of the industry. Fire Industry Manufacturers’ (FIM) Expo FIM Expo is a road...

The proliferation of false fire alarms places a huge burden on the Fire & Rescue Service. Understanding false fire alarm causes and taking steps to prevent them can help reduce false dispatches. The threat of fire is known to all; there is no need to overstate the devastating impact of fire on people, wildlife, businesses and buildings. Only recently, Sydney and its surrounding areas have been devastated by raging bushfires, while in the UK, there was a 14% increase of fire incidents attend...

During FIA’s Northern Ireland week, the FIA is excited to be bringing the Fire Industry Manufacturers (FIM) Expo, Northern Ireland Fire Industry Conference (NIFIC) and FIA’s renowned training to Northern Ireland. The events, designed in line with the FIA’s principal objectives, will cover the most pressing subjects in the fire industry, regardless of what your business focuses. The FIM Expo features many of the UK's fire detection and alarm manufacturers and focuses on showcas...

In a post-Grenfell world there is clearly, and rightly so, a focus on the fire safety of high-rise buildings – especially in the residential sector. Yet this focus has answered as many questions as it has made new ones, particularly for the construction and fire industries. As reported in December of 2019 by the Fire Industry Association (FIA), a new cross-industry valuation process called the External Wall Fire Review (EWFR) was implemented by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors...

The firms, ranging from the architects Studio E, current and former staff at the main contractor Rydon, the TMO and Harley Facades, which are being investigated for their involvement in the Grenfell Tower Fire of 2017 that resulted in the death of 72 people, want a guarantee from Attorney General, Geoffrey Cox that they will be protected from prosecution when they give evidence, stated the latest Fire Industry Association (FIA) report in the inquiry matter. ‘Michael Mansfield QC, who is r...

Following increased reports of unwanted alarms caused by e-cigarette vaping and the lack of clear information in the market place, The Fire Industry Association has now published Fact File 85, covering their use and possible effects on Fire Alarm Systems. This is free to download from the FIA website. ‘dual optical’ detectors In the recent case of The Frog & Frigate, in Southampton, where vaping is allowed, smoke detectors false alarms, caused by vaping were becoming a consider...

St Leger Homes of Doncaster have been working closely with colleagues at Doncaster Council to improve fire safety across its housing stock. Doncaster Council funded fire safety works in all of St Leger Homes’ high-rise buildings at a cost of around £6m, with sprinkler installations accounting for over half of the total spend. South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Authority contributed £200k to the installation of sprinklers at Silverwood House from their Safer Stronger Communities Re...

Bield Response24, Bield Housing & Care’s alarm receiving center (ARC) has become one of the first facilities of its kind to provide fire alarm system monitoring and management. Since 1971, Bield Housing & Care has remained committed to improving the quality of life for older people by offering a diverse range of services to enable them to achieve as much independence and life fulfillment as possible. A not for profit organization, it is now one of the largest providers of housing...