The FIA has released two free whitepaper guides on the importance of third-party certification for businesses and people purchasing fire safety products or services.
Third-party certification can give customers significantly more confidence in the competence of the suppliers they are looking to use to provide fire safety services or products. This is crucial because the law states that the buyer of a fire safety service has to ensure that the supplier is “competent.” Proving that they have ensured a level of competence could be crucial if something were to go wrong and the customer were to end up in court.
The two FIA guides, which explain what third-party certification (TPC) is, are aimed at two groups of readers. One is for customers looking to employ a person or organisation to provide a fire safety service or product.
The other guide is for people who work for a company that supplies fire safety products or services. It explains how TPC would “differentiate your company from others” and could help you attract better-quality clients and be involved in better-quality work.
The advantages for a customer seeking a fire safety solution are almost self-evident; being sure that the company that you are employing to help you look after your legal fire safety obligations is up to the task brings a huge level of peace of mind. A responsible employer (and therefore responsible person) should see fire safety, not as a burden, but as a necessary step in protecting their business and their staff members’ lives.
If you use a company with TPC, you can be significantly more confident that the risk of loss to your business, and the risk of fines for inadequate fire safety precautions, is reduced.
The whitepapers also cover:
- What TPC schemes are available for areas such as fire risk assessment, fire detection and alarm systems, fire doors, and sprinkler systems
- How TPC works for a business, including how it is part of the UK Accreditation Service
- How to identify a third-party certificated supplier
You can download both whitepapers from the FIA website now.
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