NORTHERNview
Closing the Competence Gap: Blending Hands‐On Practice with Regulated Qualifications
Nicola John, Managing Director of Fire Door Maintenance( FDM) Training and Development, explains the risk of the long-standing industry reliance on on-the-job training and the need to meet legislation by blending on-site, hands-on experience with vocational qualifications.
Over the past few years, the construction and fire safety sectors have experienced an unprecedented reassessment of how competence is defined, developed, and demonstrated. The Building Safety Act( BSA) and subsequent secondary legislation have profoundly shifted the competency landscape, demanding not only experience but provable competence. To support competency across the sector, the British Standards Institution( BSI) defines competence through four core pillars of knowledge, skills, behaviours, and experience( SKEB) and sets out how these can be evidenced in practice.
THE COMPETENCY CONUNDRUM
The SKEB framework calls for a fusion of practical skills, theoretical understanding, application of skills and professional conduct to define, assess and evidence professional competence. This all-encompassing approach to competence calls into question the industry’ s traditional reliance on purely learning on the job, highlighting that this approach, in isolation, is no longer sufficient. While, of course, hands-on learning remains invaluable, a more blended approach is now needed to meet the heightened compliance, accountability, and scrutiny of the BSA.
To prove they’ re capable of delivering a role safely and effectively, individuals and organisations operating across the construction supply chain should be able to clearly demonstrate their competency by meeting each component of the competency model. And this is a major cultural and practical shift.
THE PROBLEM OF EXPERIENCE ALONE
For decades, on-the-job learning has been the mainstay of professional development in construction, but the Grenfell Inquiry illustrated the risks of this limiting approach. Fire doors, a critical last line of defence in compartmentalisation, have often been compromised by minor errors that should never have happened. From incorrectly fitted door closers to improper hardware replacement and gaps between door frames and walls, each error, albeit seemingly small, can result in devastating consequences during a fire.
Most fire door training still relies heavily on on-the-job learning or short theory-based classroom courses, rather than practical application. It’ s also possible to achieve a Level 3 qualification without ever installing or inspecting a fire door under real-site conditions, which only provides a misleading sense of security and fails to build or verify competence. While this training is well-intentioned, it doesn’ t meet the BSA’ s requirements and results in insufficient knowledge across the fire door supply chain.
SEALING KNOWLEDGE GAPS
Published in February this year, the Government’ s Construction Products Reform Whitepaper highlighted the persistent lack of competence across the supply chain, from product design to installation. To address this and truly develop and demonstrate competence, a cultural
transition towards a blended approach and structured, continuous professional development is needed for those involved with fire doors across the supply chain. For those who install fire doors, this could look like a mix of on-site mentoring and shadowing for new recruits, accredited courses that reinforce technical knowledge and an increased focus on evidence-based vocational qualifications that support the full SKEB framework.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING
Vocational qualifications mix theoretical knowledge with practical training and assess and validate skills and understanding under real-life conditions. By focusing on hands-on, practical training along with theoretical and regulatory knowledge, vocational qualifications help ensure learners are job-ready. This type of training often enhances employability and career growth for the learner and, due to its practical nature, also helps to develop transferable skills such as time management, people management and teamwork – essential skills for any working environment. Vocational training allows trainees to apply theoretical knowledge in real-life scenarios, work with others
20 NOVEMBER 2026 CLEARVIEW-UK. COM