According to a survey of European fire equipment installers by Hochiki Europe, more than two-thirds (67%) go to manufacturers to bridge their knowledge gap on this issue.
Sixty percent get their training from industry bodies and the same proportion of respondents turn to professional associations to learn about the latest legislation and best practice.
“To think that nearly half of European installers we spoke to do not feel fully comfortable with current legislation is a shock,” said Paul Adams, deputy marketing manager at Hochiki Europe.
“As manufacturers, we clearly need to step up and take responsibility for improving their understanding.
“We’ve had CPD courses and specialist training in place for a number of years, and these results highlight just how vital it is that we continue to provide this free training for our installers and other members of the fire industry.”
Nearly two-fifths (39%) of those polled by Hochiki Europe confessed to having not received any fire or emergency lighting training in the last two years. Despite this 90% of installers felt that their clients would benefit from them receiving more training.
Of those that had received training in the previous two years, three-quarters felt ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ in their understanding of a wide range of fire-safety technology and their capacity to recommend and design an appropriate, effective fire-safety solution.
When it came to delivering this service to different sectors and environments, 83% of installers felt equipped to specify and fit the optimum solution for public sector or leisure projects. Conversely, only 18% felt this confident about offshore environments – a key growth sector.
“It’s not surprising that many installers across Europe are struggling to keep up with legislation when they may have not received any training in the last two years,” added Adams.
“The results suggest that installers do understand and see the benefits of training on their ability to carry out projects effectively. It’s clear that we now have to come together as an industry to ensure that the correct training is being promoted and delivered across the board.
“Not only will this help installers feel more confident in their jobs, it will protect the lives of people across Europe by ensuring all fire safety standards are met on every project.”
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I have had many contractors confess to little knowledge of legislation and British Standards regarding these two systems, yet had been designing, installing and commissioning. Either no certificates or inadequate ones had been issued before they did a course at the FPA. This was bad for them and the client. They are potentially liable to prosecution for a poor system and may have undersold the amount of equipment actually needed to comply thus losing themselves revenue. The client, who is still liable for an under-performing or miss specified system, unless it was via 3rd party certification, has not got the… Read more »