A brand new engineering service designed for our NHS
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Our A-E(Fire) Service
The NHS Firecode acknowledges the importance of an Authorising Engineer to provide an objective overview of key functions related to the proper running of a healthcare service. One function that has become more critical and in the public eye is that of fire safety.
Recent high profile fires have re-focused the expectations of stakeholders and enforcing authorities towards higher levels of fire prevention and protection. Hospitals are typically complex premises that require sophisticated fire strategies in order to ensure the safety of the varied occupancy profiles typically found. However, external pressures, including financial restrictions, may not always allow NHS Trusts to continually maintain control of their fire safety provisions to the level that they would like.
Our annual authorising-engineer audit addresses the key issues relevant to maintaining compliance with the management systems covered by HTM 05-01. The scope and methodology of the audit are given below:
Documentation review: We will undertake a full offsite (or onsite if necessary) assessment of all your relevant fire safety documentation, procedures and processes. This will include the following:
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A review of stated roles and responsibilities including executive teams, fire safety managers, officers and advisers, local fire safety management and those managing fire system installers and maintainers
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A review of documents including fire safety protocols; fire safety policies; fire strategies (including drawings and drawing control of fire compartmentation and fire detection zones); fire risk assessments (and validation of follow up to action plans); documentation control of installation and maintenance companies; records of fire drills, false alarms and fire incidents; training records of local staff and security response teams; details of inspections by third parties such as fire and rescue services and CQC, etc.
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A record of our findings which will be included within our executive report
Onsite assessment: We will attend every site covered by the scope of the scheme and assess the following:
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An assessment of the use of the documents previously reviewed with the relevant Trust fire teams.
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Undertaking a procedural assessment of document use to ensure an effective audit trail.
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Interviews with relevant staff and other third parties to assess their understanding of their responsibilities.
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A record of our findings which will be included within our executive report.
Report Preparation: We will prepare a specially formatted "AdashE" report designed for the Trust Executive. This will include all our findings within a single Trust Report (where multiple sites are involved). The report will include a prioritised action plan.
Presentation of Results: We will arrange an onsite presentation to Trust representatives to formally give our findings together with suggestions. This will also include a question and answer session.
Our annual workshop will be held in one or more parts of the country and will address a number of key and topical issues of interest to those making use of authorising-engineer services. The workshop will be developed in line with the development of the scheme.
Our post audit service is offered after a CQC or fire and rescue service audit where issues require urgent follow up. Up to two resource days per year are included in the scheme and is based on our offsite attendance which may include liaison with the auditing personnel. If onsite attendance is required, this will be charged for separately.
Our technical support service can be accessed via this website using the members portal. We will aim to respond within 48 hours. If onsite attendance is required, this will be charged for separately.
Our other fire related services:
Fire strategy formulation and review. We can prepare a full fire strategy against HTM 05. We will use our copyrighted format to provide you with a logical, relevant and effective strategy document. Where your current building and system falls short of the recommendations, we will aim to find a practical alternative solution and ensure that this will be acceptable with all relevant stakeholders. We can also provide an independent review of your current fire strategy.
Project assistance: We can provide an objective overview of projects or provide more detailed assistance such as witness testing and validation of project documentation and drawings.
Attendance at meetings: We can provide authorising engineers or other fire system experts to attend Trust meetings.
Specialist services: We have expertise on a range of specialist fire safety engineering services including fire system designs, fire and evacuation modelling and training services.
Check out Fire Cubed's list of services by
Introducing our lead A-E (Fire):
Dr Paul Bryant
PhD MBA BSc(hons) C.Eng
Paul has worked in the fire industry for over 30 years. He has been instrumental in the national and international standardisation of fire safety including drafting the British Standard PAS 911: Fire strategies - guidance and framework for their formulation. He has worked with the insurance industry and was head of fire engineering for London Underground before forming his own business "Kingfell plc".
Paul's expertise is in the field of fire strategies. He wrote the fire best seller "Fire strategies - strategic thinking" and recently published "Holistic fire strategies - The search for a global methdology".