BAFE and BSI announce “pioneering” third party certification for SP105 Scheme

The SP105 Scheme offers evidence of competency for those organisations who deliver solutions for the service and maintenance of dry and wet riser/falling installations. The Scheme observes Best Practice, working as it does to several British Standards including BS 9990 Code of Practice for Non-Automatic Fire-Fighting Systems in Buildings and BS 5041 (Parts 1-5) Fire Hydrant Systems Equipment).

The inaugural company to achieve this third party certification and BAFE registration is Nationwide Fire & Security, which is based in Rowley Regis. Steve Small, managing director of the company, said: “It’s great to have achieved third party certification to the BAFE SP105 Scheme. We’re extremely proud of our achievement and can confidently state and prove our competency to provide such services.”

Small went on to comment: “The BSI was very thorough during the assessment. That cemented our judgement of this being the right direction for the company to pursue. Competency is a huge topic now, especially so in terms of high-rise buildings, and we want the business to be able to provide significant evidence of that competency being on display at all times.”

Clear differentiator

Chris Auger, director of Schemes at BAFE, stated: “We introduced SP105 to the BAFE portfolio of competency Schemes in December last year, but due to the national lockdown as a result of COVID, progress was paused early in 2020. We’re now delighted to award the first BAFE SP105 registration to Nationwide Fire & Security and we congratulate the company on its achievement.”

Auger added: “BAFE continues to develop its diverse range of Schemes to enable niche, but extremely important specialist markets to gain access to third party certification. Solution providers are able to prove their competence and harbour a clear differentiator when compared to their competitors.”

He concluded “BAFE has been actively involved in the Competence Steering Group Working Groups that arose in the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the subsequent Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety conducted by Dam Judith Hackitt. We look forward to a much stronger emphasis being placed on competency with UKAS-accredited third party certification in the interests of life safety and property protection for the whole of the built environment, not just high-rise or high risk structures. Our key aim is to support industry with access to appropriate third party certification.”

Continued assurance

Richard Gurney, BSI Group’s certification and laboratory manager with direct responsibility for fire safety products and associated directives, informed Fire Safety Matters: “We join BAFE in congratulating Nationwide Fire & Security in achieving SP105 third party certification. This confirms the organisation complies with the requirements of the BAFE SP105 Scheme and provides continued assurance to end users that they’re receiving a service delivered by a competent organisation and competent technicians.”

*The BAFE SP105 Scheme is now available for third party certification assessment via the BSI. For further information visit https://bit.ly/3m6nPFi