The Fire Industry Association (FIA) officially launched their new qualifications in fire detection and alarms last week at FIREX, the annual show alongside the IFSEC security show, at ExCel, London Docklands.
Three seminars were held on the topic of the new qualifications; one on each day of the three-day fire industry expo. The seminars were given by Martin Duggan, pictured, General Manager of the FIA, who covered the qualifications that are due to become available.
Martin Duggan said: โThe seminars were very well attended and it was a great opportunity to answer questions directly from visitors at the show. These qualifications have taken years of development and we are really excited to share with the industry exactly what shape the qualifications will take. Weโve taken on new staff and had a small shake-up of the FIA team in preparation for the launch of the qualifications in order to answer all those initial questions and to ensure that the booking process goes smoothly.โ
The FIA reports that the new qualifications were met with interest from across the sector โ including international interest. The four new qualifications cover Designer, Installer, Maintainer, and Commissioner. Duggan said: “They are equivalent to a Level 3 in the UK, so that is the same as an A-Level, but in Europe it is the same as a Level 4 qualification on the European Qualifications Framework.โ
The FIA also had a fully decked out stand to look like a pub, serving up snacks and drinks, which was a hit with visitors. The stand had an information desk to meet with the trade association’s staff and pick up a prospectus for the new qualifications.
Kat Schabowska, Marketing Communications Executive of the FIA, said: โWe had back-to-back enquiries at the information desk and the bar area was full every day of the expo. We are delighted to be able to say that this yearโs footfall on our stand was even better than last year.โ
The new qualifications will contain new topics. As a result, the courses will be longer due to the amount of new content and the exams at the end of each unit.
Martin Duggan during his presentation said: โWe did a gap analysis of our current training and the new qualifications to discover how much more the new qualifications would offer. The results show us that the courses will at least double in size. Weโve developed some units that are completely new, plus we added extra sections that industry stakeholders and employers have asked for. Our members have very much guided us in this direction towards including more content and making the courses longer and more extensive, in order to stretch the learnersโ knowledge further than before.โ
If youโre interested in the qualifications or courses the FIA asks that you sign up to their email newsletter to find out when our booking system will go live. To sign up, click โSign up to our enewsโ from the FIAโs homepage, www.fia.uk.com.
The new qualifications prospectus is available to download for free from the FIAโs homepage, or a hard copy can be requested by emailing fia-team@fia.uk.com.
