Electrical Contracting News (ECN) October 2016 | Page 43

FIRE ALARMS

Step #1:
Understand the standards required
Will Lloyd, from the Fire Industry
Association, started out his career as
an electrician before he retrained as a
commissioning engineer for fire alarms,
before eventually (many years later)
joining the FIA as a technical manager.
He advises, ‘The electrical contractor’s
bible is the 17th Edition of the Wiring
Regulations. Regulation 560.10 says
fire alarms shall comply with BS5839
series. So if an electrician is fitting a fire
alarm, then they should comply to these
standards.’
So what should an electrician do before
fitting any fire alarms?
‘First of all, get a copy of the standard
(available on the FIA website). Secondly,
do the FIA training courses. It’s really easy
to get into wiring fire alarms. Wiring fire
alarms is one of the easiest things you’ll
ever do. But you have to get it right.’
Step #2:
Get familiar with the legislation
Legally speaking, anyone can fit a fire
alarm, so long as they are deemed
competent, as this is what is laid out in
the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order
2005.
‘If you wire a fire alarm, you do need to
be aware of the Fire Safety Order,’ states
Lloyd. ‘If you do it incorrectly, you could
be prosecuted. And there has been cases
of fire authorities prosecuting fire alarm
installers for doing things wrong. So they
would be quite happy to prosecute anyone
– including electricians that worked on the
fire alarm, if there is reason to.’
So all an electrician really needs to do
is be competent. Be good at fitting fire
alarms according to the Standards. But
once that initial training is done, there is
a whole new world of contracts and jobs
that electricians can work on.

Anyone can fit a fire alarm, so long
as they are deemed competent.

Step #3:
Get the right training
The best way to get started is to get
some training. Training needn’t be time
consuming or expensive, but it should
be extensive and recognised by the
industry. The FIA offers courses that are
both of these things, and should also be
able to provide you with further technical
guidance once you’re out on the job.
If an electrician has years of
contracting experience, can they
just get started with fitting fire
alarms?
‘Well, yes,’ explains
Lloyd. ‘But there is a little
bit of extra knowledge that
you need to know.
‘In the fire industry, all
our wiring and fixings
have to be done with
fire-rated fixings. You
have to think what
happens to the smoke
in the room, and what
things sticking out
from ceilings cause
problems with smoke,
eg. beams, lighting
fittings – all these
sort of things you
will learn on the FIA
training course.’

Competency is made up of knowledge, training and skills.

Step #4:
Get certified
Competency is made up of knowledge,
training and skills. The easiest way
of showing competency is to be third
party certified. The added bonus is that
larger firms may wish to subcontract
to electricians with certification, as this
shows that they have the skills to do the
job correctly and safely.
‘The fire alarm industry, especially the
big companies, do not want to do their
own installation as it is too expensive. They
have to pay the engineers quite a lot more.
They like to subcontract to an electrician
because there is an electrician on site,’
explains Lloyd.
‘Because if they’re building a new
building, they are having to put the
power in, so the electrician is already
there to do that. Why can’t he put in a bit
more cable? He can, he just has to know
a little bit more. FIA training will give
you that little bit of knowledge. Once
you’ve got third party certification, and
done the training, then you’re ready to
hire yourself out to the bigger companies
who’ll pay you to do their installation
work. Once you have certification,
the bigger companies will have the
confidence in you because it is a scheme

that they use themselves. If you are a
competent installer, this is a whole new
revenue stream for you.’
Additionally, the certification process
itself is a policing system, a way of
checking your competency – which is vital
from a legal standpoint.
Step #5:
Advertise your new service
Congratulations! If you’ve done the training
and got certified, you’re now ready to
advertise your new service and start fitting
commercial fire alarms. Imagine being the
main contractor to some of the largest and
most famous brands in the UK, such as
supermarket chains and fast food outlets.
Whilst there is no guarantee that you
100 per cent will become contractor to
the biggest companies, the potential for
greater earnings and more work coming in
will be extremely appealing to most. Which
is great news for electricians looking to
move into installing fire alarms. The key
thing to remember here is the necessity
of getting proper training and working
towards getting third party certification –
all of which can be done through the FIA.
You can find out more by going to
www.fia.uk.com.

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12/09/2016 12:19