Right now , there is a real issue ; the skills gap in the fire industry is growing . Quite simply , there aren ’ t enough skilled fire alarm engineers to go around and it ’ s frustrating that although there ’ s a large pool of workers , very few are experienced . You can have a fire alarm engineer who has worked 20 years , for example , but he may just have been completing simple maintenance work . When I do interviews , I ask people to tell me the different categories of a fire alarm system , but I can count on one hand the amount of people that get it right . Education is vastly underrated .
Knowledge gaps
With the Fire Industry Association launching four new qualifications in fire detection and alarm systems , maybe qualifications will fix the skills gap ? A formal qualification that covers all the fundamentals would improve your chances of attracting the right level of applicant because interviewing people and understanding how they are going to perform is currently extremely difficult .
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Candidates may have gaps in their knowledge and not everyone has had the same training . |
In theory , education and qualifications lead to a higher level of knowledge and understanding , which raises the bar for the industry . The problem is that candidates may have gaps in their knowledge and not everyone has had the same training . So , some candidates might have done a course here and there , but there is no uniformity and nothing to show that they have a full level of end-to-end knowledge . Having a qualification would ensure that those elements are covered .
You can teach someone to maintain a fire alarm system easily enough , but understanding the system – knowing the how and the why and applying those things based on standards , simply having the level of knowledge that you ’ d expect from a fire alarm engineer – not every applicant has that . I ’ m hopeful that the new qualifications from the FIA will change all that .
Grow your own
You may have noticed the growing and rather worrying lack of ‘ new blood ’ coming into the industry and everyone wondering how on earth to fix the skills gap . On top of that there is the new EN standard that sets out the minimum level of education for those in the fire safety services industry . In
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truth , it ’ s becoming challenging to get the industry to come together to find a solution .
There ’ s quite a small supply of engineers , but I ’ ve always been an advocate of ‘ growing your own .’ If you catch people right from the start , you can educate them when they ’ re fresh from college and give them the proper training . By growing your own , you get people who fit better with your business organisation , your culture and the way you want to do things .
One of our guys , for instance , I recruited when he was 18 . Now , ten years later , he ’ s managing a team of engineers ; he knows how we work and he ’ s had a good education through us .
When recruiters send over applicants that don ’ t fit your company structure and culture , it can cause problems . Again , this lends truth to the argument that you should grow your own : Recruit , train , and retain your staff . Engineers only leave when they can ’ t see a way to progress , so giving them a qualification ensures there ’ s something they can work towards . After all , part of being a good company is about leadership , and allowing staff to grow and develop .
Consumer confidence
Having qualified technicians would also give consumers greater confidence about what they are buying .
In a service based industry , quality of delivery is everything and your engineers are on the front line , representing your brand . Employing great engineers helps your company stand out from the competition , but the real issue is – how do you know that the individual engineer is up to the standard required to do the job ?
Being able to say that all your engineers have a qualification in their specialist area would make any company stand out head and shoulders above the competition . These days consumers don ’ t just look for a fair price , but for services they can trust .
The bottom line is : The industry needs qualifications . The FIA has clearly listened and responded by creating four new qualifications for the designer , installer , maintainer and commissioner . For now , we will have to wait patiently until they announce when the courses are available to book . After that – who knows ? Maybe it will change the industry for the better .
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‘ Having qualified technicians would give consumers greater confidence about what they are buying .’ |
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For further information visit : www . fia . uk . com |
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20 | August 2017 |