The trade body the Fire Industry Association (FIA) has released a mini documentary video on its YouTube channel and website called ‘The need for qualified fire alarm technicians explained in nine minutes’. In those nine minutes, the video aims to do just that.
The video explores the skills gap within the fire detection and alarm sector and the reasons behind it, talking to UK industry figures. There are commentaries from recruiters and managing directors of various fire detection and alarm installation and maintenance companies – each with their own viewpoint on the need for a formal qualification, to close the skills gap.
Brett Ennals, Managing Director of Cento (the featured recruitment agency) talks about the ‘well-documented skills gap’, while John Battersby, MD of Sunfish looks straight in the camera and tells how it is: recruiting new staff is hard.
While all these faces have their own stories to tell, the documentary shows images of the reasons why a qualification is necessary – photos of detectors stuck carelessly in corners, and one even on a loft hatch.
There are also appearances from FIA Chairman Martin Harvey and CEO Ian Moore, who detail the services standard, EN 16763, which specifies the level of education required to be able to work in the fire safety services sector.
The associations points out that qualifications in the fire detection and alarm sector don’t exist, and there is a lot of asking ‘What if?’ – hence the video to offer insight into the sector and what the FIA camms the urgent need for a qualification from a range of real people within the industry. The FIA uses the video to state that they will be making an announcement on the subject on May 2.
View the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2VxTbvHwN0.
