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THIS MONTH’S President’s Desk introduces a significant development in the way in which fire and rescue authorities (FRAs) can demonstrate the competence of their employees through professional registration. It is an abridged version of a paper by Dennis Davis, and discusses a subject to which many members have contributed.
The Fire and Rescue Authority Registration Scheme is designed to facilitate registration with the UK Engineering Council (ECUK) for individual FRA employees who meet the UK Standard for Professional Engineering Competence. The scheme is operated in partnership with the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) and is based on the well-established Company Accredited Training Scheme format operated by industry.
The IFE is one of the professional institutions licensed by ECUK to register individuals onto the professional register. As a licensed body, the IFE can register appropriate persons at all three sections of the register: Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, or Engineering Technician.
The engineering profession
The popular perception of engineering is that it is confined to the building or manufacturing world and not widely used in society. This is a considerable misunderstanding, given that engineering is the central process in all developing countries.
It is a process that involves science and, through application, introduces working practices, has a central role in all innovation and new economies and is the underpinning strength that creates technology.
Engineering is about ‘know what’ and ‘know how’ and, in the UK, it is estimated that there are two million people who call themselves an engineer, with around 160,000 of those registered with ECUK as either Chartered or Incorporated Engineers.
Many people are unaware that engineering is present in the wider community. The IFE has over 3,000 members in the UK fire and rescue service (FRS). But even here, many do not fully recognise that registration with the ECUK offers professional recognition of their technical skills at a national and international level. UK engineers are valued worldwide for their competence.
Fire and rescue service registration
There are also considerable similarities between engineering and FRS competences and, in particular, the Emergency Fire Service (EFS) National Standards that are integral to the integrated personal development system (IPDS). The additional impetus that will be added to IPDS through the UK Learning and Development Strategy (see p.4) recognises the importance of competence and the role of bodies like the Fire Service College, the Scottish Fire Service College and the IFE.
The integrity of any organisation that wishes to operate as a professionally competent body is that all employees have had competency assessments conducted by professional review. That is where licensed bodies can help, and through an accredited and validated employer registration scheme that whole process can be made relevant to the local FRS operating environment on an individual FRA employer basis.
The matrix below indicates a few of the many common themes and modules that exist. It indicates, by using one example from the EFS national modules, that at firefighter level there are sufficient areas of FRS work to provide opportunity and, hence, evidence to satisfy the 13 modules required by the IFE to enable Engineering Technician registration.
This illustrates that there are common values between occupational FRS standards and those operated within engineering. All technical professions gain added value from external recognition and economies from the use of shared established processes. The fire and rescue service, through the Engineer Registration Scheme, has the opportunity to achieve both benefits and quality-assured competency. In next month’s President’s Desk, there will be more detail on the scheme itself.
Fire 2005
Fire 2005, held in November in Manchester (see p.9), was another great success, with good support from the FRS, local authorities and other stakeholders. A particularly significant challenge that will face the FRS was addressed in a paper on the recruitment and retention of staff in the public services. Registration of FRS employees will be a major attraction to potential candidates, who are increasingly approaching the job market as ‘consumers of employment’.
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