The Building Safety Act 2022 gained Royal Assent in May. It introduces sweeping changes to building regulations over the next few years, which has a direct impact for those installing and maintaining fire alarm systems.
The Building Safety Act is stage one of legislation changes. Phase two will bring in secondary legislation such as the Building (Appointment of Persons, Industry Competence and Dutyholders) (England) Regulation (2021). This is known as the ‘Dutyholder Regulations’.
‘Dutyholders’ will carry far more responsibility. They must ensure anyone appointing a ‘Principal Designer’, ‘Principal Contractor’, or other person who carries out building or design work, will take all reasonable steps to ensure the appointee meets the competency requirements. Appointees are under a duty to inform the client if they no longer satisfy a competency requirement.
In a nutshell, The Building (Appointment of Persons, Industry Competence and Dutyholders) (England) Regulations imposes a general competency requirement to ensure any person carrying out building or design work has the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary.
Of the many companies that carry out fire alarm and detection work, only a small percentage of these list ‘Third Party Approval’ for fire systems. So, are they competent to design, install and commission fire systems?
The British Standard BS 5839 states a competent person working to that standard is a:
Person with the relevant current training and experience, and with access to the requisite tools, equipment and information, and capable of carrying out a defined task. (Competent person clause 3.12)
The implication of the competency clause 3.12, effectively means ‘relevant current training’ which means; current standard (BS 5839-1:2017) training, training and knowledge of the equipment you are working with experience working on the said equipment and supervised by a person who has such experience. Finally, you need the requisite tools and equipment to carry out the task.
So, ‘Does an electrician, with a normal electrical training have the above?’ Often the answer is no. An electrician may have done the electrical City & Guilds, 18th edition and even the AM 2, but very rarely does this include training on BS 5839. However, Clause 560.10 in the wiring regs BS 7671 states “fire alarm and detections systems shall comply with the relevant parts of BS 5839”.
The time is now for electrical contractors to gain the right training and qualifications to prove competence in fire alarm and detection.
Here at PTT we offer the EAL Level 3 Award in the Requirements of Fire Detection and Fire Alarm Systems for Buildings BS 5839-1 2017.
Further details can be found here …
