Things that a Fire Safety Accredited practitioner does

The Fire Protection Association of Australia (FPAA) has set up a Government recognized accreditation scheme for fire safety practitioners. It is now compulsory for a Fire Safety Accredited Practitioner to be accredited through this scheme for the endorsement of Annual Fire safety statements.

The FPAA has drafted a set of rules for the role of a Fire safety assessor. According to the draft of the FPAA, it is the responsibility of the Competent Fire Safety Practitioners:

·         Decide the necessary standard of performance from the approved design

·         Collate and review with routine service records to understand if Essential Fire Safety Measures (EFSM) is able to operate to the necessary standard of performance and if any defects have been corrected.

·         Verify and review the precise system interface operation and functionality as mentioned in EFSM according to the legislation, the National Construction Code or the Australian Standards to consider the routine service records holistically.

·         Carry out a visual inspection or make a report on visual inspection according to your requirements to figure out if an EFSM is inappropriately compromised or altered by the changes in the building, environment or occupancy in the last 12 months.

·         Verify and review the performance test results you got through AS 1851-2012 routine service or other routine service methods, where AS 1851 is not applicable.

·         Inspect exit doors, exits, egress, and discharge from exits.

·         Give an assessment report to the owner with the details regarding the assessment carried out, findings and suggestions.

·         Give a declaration that every essential Fire Safety Measures has been ascertained and when ascertained was:

1.       Not able to carry out the relevant standard of performance

2.       Able to perform the relevant standard of performance

The fire safety accredited practitioners are now addressed as Competent Fire Safety Practitioners. A competent person should hold a degree to conduct specific chores. One aspect of the reform is to develop a method of accreditation to make sure that people are certified to carry out chores like regular fire safety inspections and assessments.

How to become a competent fire safety practitioner?    

According to the reforms in NSW, anyone involved in design work for fire safety systems or preparing the annual fire safety statements should be identified as a competent fire safety practitioner.