FireQual Ltd and BAFE unveil strategic management appointments

His most recent roles have been involved with developing and implementing growth strategies as CEO of SFEDI Awards, the Awarding Organisation for enterprise development. Alongside this, Preston has also been responsible for those strategies’ compliance with regulatory systems across the UK and he was the responsible officer for their systems for learners and training centres.

Speaking about his new appointment, Preston (pictured) commented: “Introducing a range of high quality, nationally recognised qualifications for the betterment of fire protection services and staff within the fire safety industry will be a rewarding task. FireQual Ltd has huge potential to make the industry safer and demonstrably more competent and I very much look forward to the challenge this offers.”

He continued: “Although FireQual Ltd is a new venture, it builds on the vast array of knowledge and expertise within the sector both within BAFE and through our valued external partners who continue to support this new endeavour as we move forward. I welcome the opportunity to work with a range of excellent industry partners, training organisations and their candidates to build new relationships and opportunities.”

Stephen Adams, CEO of BAFE, added: “We believe FireQual Ltd is being entrusted in very good hands with Nic. His experience will be invaluable in the development of this Awarding Organisation. This is a big opportunity to develop individual skills to ensure that competence remains at the forefront of the fire safety industry. We’re pursuing this because we know that it’s the right thing to do in the interests of life safety.”

Promotion for Auger

In tandem, the BAFE Fire Safety Register has announced that Chris Auger, currently BAFE’s head of schemes, has been promoted to director of schemes with responsibility for the organisation and development of existing and new schemes, together with quality assurance and complaints management. He will have the vital day-to-day support role involving BAFE-licensed certification bodies.

Auger continues to do a first class job with his work on the Hackitt Working Groups and with other stakeholders, especially on promoting the value of third party certification and competence, which is now gaining much stronger traction with the support of UKAS. He has helped to create a much stronger profile for BAFE among a wide range of influencers across the construction sector.

He commented: “The BAFE competence schemes continue to grow and develop, with registrations rising even during the lockdown period. We’re very grateful to companies and certification bodies alike for continuing to recognise the importance of third party certification and finding new methods to ensure compliance. We have a number of new initiatives in place designed to support the industry, specifiers and end users and I’m delighted to be taking on this role.”

Auger went on to state: “With the development of FireQual Ltd there will also be a genuine prospect of encompassing accredited technician competence into more of our company schemes, which will be considered by our dedicated schemes monitoring groups. This will consider all appropriate training and qualifications available, not just those of FireQual Ltd. Organisational competency and evidence of individual expertise remain at the forefront of this discussion.”

*Further details about FireQual Ltd will be added to www.firequal.com when available. By visiting the website, interested parties can sign up to receive the FireQual Ltd Newsletter which will offer updates as and when new information is published