BROADENING OUR REACH

BROADENING

OUR REACH

ASFP Technical Officer Dr Andrew Taylor introduces the Passive Fire Knowledge Group

There has been a lot said recently on the subject of culture change in construction. Last month, at the ASFP’s Industry Leaders event at the Aviva Building, Chandra Dissanayeke of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUCH) gave a key note speech on why the Government thinks that culture change is an important part of the measures needed to ensure safer buildings. culture change, to do things first and foremost with building safety in mind, is seen as an allencompassing change, which works at every level, and will ultimately give the best chance of ensuring safer buildings for all.

Whilst the Government has delivered both the Fire Safety Act and the Building Safety Act, much of the detailed secondary legislation is still to be published. Indeed, there has been little evidence of progress in developing this secondary legislation since the end of the Johnson Government in early July. However, the advice from Government and contained within Dame Judith Hackitt’s Building a Safer Future report has been not to wait for Government, but to do the right thing now. One of the main groups who could influence this change, are the Tier 1 contractors. Recently both Niall and I have been meeting with a group of Tier 1 contractors, as part of setting up a new collaborative forum, the Passive Fire Knowledge Group, PFKG. The PFKG has been established to drive culture change through the design and construction process to improve fire safety in buildings.

Tier 1 contractors comprise the largest stakeholder group within PFKG, and have the influence within the construction industry to drive forward the necessary culture change that will ultimately ensure safer buildings. Culture change in the construction industry is only going to be possible if there is buy-in from the Tier 1 contractors at the top of the contractual chain. This is what makes the PFKG potentially such an interesting group.

The PFKG is initially focusing on three topic areas: education; process and testing issues related to the design and specification of passive fire protection for compartmentation; and service penetration sealing and compatibility with fire-resisting partitions (firewalls). One of the key areas in which ASFP will be contributing to PFKG is the testing information group. This aims to provide the Tier 1 contractors with advice on best practice in the use and interpretation of fire test evidence, whilst at the same time ensuring that ASFP manufacturer members (initially those involved in ASFP TG3) are testing their products in the most appropriate designs to cover the actual end-use situations demanded by the construction industry.

Other issues the forum will consider include inspection and recording of installed works during construction, and the education requirements of those designing, procuring and installing passive fire protection (combined) products or systems.

ASFP will continue to support the PFKG, and its Tier 1 contractor members to help ensure the delivery of safer buildings by way of the much needed culture change in construction. There will be a formal launch presentation of PFKG at the London Build 2022 exhibition at London Olympia on 17th November. For further information, visit www.PFKG.org.

COMPETENCY PATHWAY

ASFP Training Manager Chris Sharman investigates the ASFP Competency Pathway as it takes its first steps

Competency is being used as a buzzword across the construction industry at this current time, indeed this is not the first article I have written about this very subject. In previous articles we have looked at how we define competency, and the hidden costs associated with competency (or more often the lack thereof…). In this edition we are going to look at what we, as an association, are proposing to do about it.

May we present the ASFP Competency Pathway.

Officially launched by Kate Milford of Milford&Marah at the ASFP September event in London, the ASFP Competency Pathway is a multi-faceted guide to achieving, recording, and demonstrating competence at different levels within the Passive Fire Sector. It has been created in direct response to those changes to the construction industry being brought about following the introduction of the Building Safety Act 2022, the creation of the UK Building Regulator, the implementation of the recommendations from the Hackitt report, and the need to demonstrate both individual competence and organisational capability across the industry. This represents a massive culture change across the entire construction Industry, and it is one that we can either choose to create and foster to the benefit of all of those involved specifically within the passive fire sector, or we can choose not to take a lead in such matters and find ourselves being legislated by government. Legislative history teaches us this usually leads to the creation of a “one size nearly fits all but doesn’t actually fit any” method that may not reflect the specific requirements of our sector. It is imperative that to ensure best practice is both understood and adhered to we take the first option.

I have to take a moment to admit to being a little blasé about this myself when first looking at it. Having worked in the passive fire sector for the last seven or so years, and in the fire sector in general for over 20 I thought this might be a relatively straightforward undertaking. Only when I had been sat in front of a large screen and directly exposed to both the scale of what we needed to consider and the minutiae of the individual subjects we need to look at and the huge empty gulf of “assumed competency” between them did I realise the true scale of that which is facing us.

We can break down the competency requirements for those in passive fire protection in several ways, however we can begin with two very clear descriptions. 1. Those directly involved in Passive Fire Protection. For example: installers, supervisors, site managers, project managers and technical staff for specialist passive fire contractors, inspectors and clerks of works, and technical sales staff and technical support staff for manufacturers or suppliers of passive fire products. 2. Those who are either tangentially linked to the actual installation of products, or those for whom an understanding of Passive Fire Protection is a function of their role rather than the role itself. For example those involved in the design of buildings, engineers and consultants, QS’s and those designing/installing mechanical and electrical systems in buildings who will be likely to compromise elements of compartmentation. Each of these will require a differing level of knowledge and skills to enable them to carry out their works correctly whilst correctly maintaining the fire resistance of the building’s structure and separating elements.

In each case, we need to break down the required Skills, Knowledge, Experience, and Behaviours (SKEB) required to complete their tasks in a competent fashion, regardless of whether they are directly involved in the provision/installation of passive fire systems or not. Only when we begin to break down these SKEB requirements do we realise

COMPETENCY PATHWAY ASFP IGNITE