BAFE, the registration body for third party certification of fire protection products and services, has been working on a scheme for companies who provide Life Safety Fire Risk Assessment services. Following extensive consultation during 2011 a final scheme document, together with a guidance document for Certification Bodies was approved by the BAFE Board on January 24th.
Although approved, BAFE have taken the decision to delay the launch until there are Certification Bodies (CBs) capable of meeting the requirements of the scheme and gain UKAS accreditation. A number of CBs have been actively working towards this and it is anticipated that the scheme will be launched with an event during late spring 2012. The CBs will be seeking expressions of interest from companies prior to that date, but will not be offering full BAFE certification.
BAFE General Manager, Stephen Adams said “We are extremely grateful to the Editorial Group, chaired by Malcolm Kelly, for all of their hard work in bringing the scheme documents to fruition. We now have to be sure that the undoubted demand for the scheme, from both providers and end users, can be met by our partner Certification Bodies. We realise that they are committing considerable resources to gaining their UKAS accreditation, so that providers will be able to demonstrate their capability to deliver high quality fire risk assessments.” He continued, “End users, as the responsible person, will then be able to demonstrate that they have taken all reasonable steps to have a fire risk assessment from a company that has shown its commitment to quality. ”
For further updates the BAFE website will highlight progress toward the full scheme launch. (www.bafe.org.uk)
