Training

Fire courses

by Mark Rowe

The Fire Industry Association (FIA) has two new courses. For those who have taken the Foundation course of the new qualification pathway, these two new courses are the next step in the route to becoming qualified. You can book under the ‘Training’ tab of the FIA website.

The new qualification pathway is designed for those working in the fire detection and alarm sector, to provide qualifications for designers, installers, maintainers, and commissioners. The new units are Heath and Safety; and Environment.

General Manager of the FIA, Martin Duggan, says: “We understand that for those that took and passed the Foundation unit in January that it has been a long wait for the new courses, but we had to ensure that enough people had taken and passed the Foundation unit before we could launch the second set of courses. We’re now at that stage and booking for these two new courses is now open.”

The courses are only available to those that have taken and passed the Foundation course; though it does not matter which order the Health and Safety and the Environment courses are taken. As the name suggests, the Health and Safety unit, a one-dayer with an exam, enables learners to get a deeper understanding of the potential workplace hazards and how these could be best avoided, leading to safer workplaces.

The exam for the Health and Safety unit is the industry-standard ECS, which the FIA Awarding Organisation (the OFQUAL registered examination body behind the fire detection qualifications) recognises as a pass for the Health and Safety unit.

A small point to note: if learners have either the NEBOSH National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety, or an in date ECS Health and Safety assessment certificate, then they will already have achieved the standard necessary to be awarded a pass for the Health and Safety unit. These are subject to the FIA’s rules and guidance on ‘recognised prior learning’.

As for the Environment course, it guides learners through the environmental factors that affect those working in the fire detection and alarm sector. Covered is waste management (what do you do with old equipment? How do you recycle it?), as well as the various environmental laws that are in place that dictate what companies in this sector can and can’t do.

Prior learning also applies to this course too. If learners hold the NEBOSH Certificate in Environmental Management, PLUS the FIA course ‘F-Gas Certification for Service Technicians’, PLUS the FIA course, ‘Critical Uses of Halon’, then this will be recognised as a pass – but learners must hold all three.

For both these units, if learners believe they hold recognised prior learning, they must notify the FIA team so that this is recorded on the system.
Bindya Chongbang, Training Co-ordinator, says: “‘Recognised prior learning’ is a term coined by the Awarding Organisation, who sets the syllabus for the qualifications. It’s important that you discuss with us what prior learning you might hold, and the validity of it. It absolutely must be in-date, otherwise we will not be able to accept it.”

The FIA adds that learners can draw on the knowledge and experience of the FIA trainers. For the Foundation unit, which was the first unit in the qualification pathway to be released, customer feedback surveys showed that 97 per cent of learners would recommend the course to others.

Martin Duggan adds: “We’re expecting a large number of bookings for these two new courses. Our learners have been anticipating the next set of courses and so we expect places to fill up and courses to sell out very quickly. We’re doing everything we can to add as many dates and locations for these new courses, but we recommend booking early to secure the date you want.”

Full details of the course content can be found in the prospectus or on the FIA’s website.

Download the prospectus; https://www.fia.uk.com/training.html.

Book Health and Safety; https://www.fia.uk.com/course/health—safety-course.html.

Book Environment; https://www.fia.uk.com/course/envirionmental-course.html.

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