National Security Inspectorate Sentinel House, 5 Reform Road Maidenhead SL6 8BY Website: nsi.org.uk Page 1 of 13 © NSI 2018 Fire Gold Approval Criteria FISF 806 Issue 1 May 2018 Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 2 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 These approval criteria are to be read in conjunction with the NSI Regulations. No company may hold out or claim to meet the Fire Gold approval criteria, other than by virtue of holding Fire Gold approval. Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 3 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 Contents 1 Scope and introduction ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………….. 4 2 Premises ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………… 4 3 Vehicles and equipment ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………………. 4 4 Insurances ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………….. 5 5 Experience of management ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………. 5 6 Repute of management ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………….. 5 7 Finance ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………….. 6 8 Twenty – four hour cover ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………………….. 6 9 Level of trading ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………. 7 10 Contracts (general) ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. … 7 11 Mai ntenance contracts ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………. 7 12 Staff ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. . 8 13 Security screening of personnel ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………. 9 14 Customer communications ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………….. 9 15 Management of sub – contracting (outsourcing) ………………………….. ………………………….. ………… 9 16 Management of complaints ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………… 9 17 Compliance with standards, codes of practice and so on ………………………….. …………………. 10 18 Do – it – yourself kits ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. .. 10 19 Wiring rules ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ………….. 10 20 Documented quality management system ………………………….. ………………………….. ……………… 11 21 British Standards and so on ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. …………… 11 22 Fir e & Rescue Service policies ………………………….. ………………………….. ………………………….. ……….. 13 Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 4 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 1 Scope and introduction 1.1 This document lists the criteria for Fire Gold approval. 1.2 The criteria apply to FIRE Gold approved companies and to companies applying for FIRE Gold approval. 1.3 Definitions are as stated in the NSI Regulations. FIRE Gold approval includes the design and/or installation and/or commissioning and/or maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems (BAFE SP203-1) and/or fixed gaseous fire suppression systems (BAFE SP203-3) and/or emergency lighting systems (BAFE SP203-4) and/or the provision and maintenance of portable fire extinguishers (BAFE SP101). 1.4 In this document, text under the columns headed Criterion are criteria for approval. Text under the columns headed Guideline are guidelines for assessing compliance with the stated criteria. Nevertheless, we reserve a right to refuse approval if you do not meet the guidelines or to end your approval if you do not meet the guidelines. 2 Premises Criterion Guideline You must operate from suitable and adequate secure premises. When you apply for approval, we expect you to show us that you have reasonable security of tenure of the premises (for ex ample, freehold; leasehold with at least three years to run; or a long history of occupying the premises and no reason to expect that you will have to leave). For further information on requirements for premises see the relevant BAFE Scheme document(s). 3 Vehicles and equipment Criterion Guideline You need to have suitable tools, equipment, test instruments and vehicles. They need to be available and in use. None. Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 5 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 4 Insurances Criterion Guideline You need to hold employer’s liability insurance and public liability insurance. None. You need to hold products liability insurance extending to wrongful advice and failure to perform. Your insurance cover must be wide enough to cover all of your work and services provided under your NSI Fire Gold approval . The limit of indemnity for any one event and also in total for any one twelve month period of insurance needs to be not less than one million pounds sterling. `Wrongful advice’ and `failure to perform’ are specialized forms of insurance cover not necessa rily included in ordinary business policies. We advise you to check the scope and extent of your cover before you apply for approval. Some of your commercial contracts are likely to require you to hold cover for more than one million pounds sterling. 5 Experience of management Criterion Guideline You need to have suitably experienced managers, known as “qualifying managers” . These are the people within your company who are responsible for the technical aspects of the business and /or for the overall busines s and financial management of the business. This includes being responsible for all the work and service provided by any sub – contractors. At least one of the “qualifying managers” needs to have relevant technical and engineering experience. At least one of the “qualifying managers” needs to be a director or senior manager who has relevant business management and commercial experience. The number of qualifying managers you need will depend on the size of your company and on the nature and ext ent of your company’s security systems operations. For a small company, one qualifyin g manager is enough, if they have the appropriate technical and engineering experience and also the appropriate business management experience. A qualifying manager is normally expected to have at least three years’ relevant experience in a management or supervisory capacity in the relevant discipline . The experience may have been gained within your company or during previous employment / trading. The experience needs to be of a standard acceptable to us. 6 Repute of management Criterion Guideline The people who manage, control and have principal interests in the ownership of your When we are assessing whether a company meets this criterion, we can take into account Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 6 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 Criterion Guideline company must be demonstrably reputable and of good standing. During the application process and at any time subsequent to approval being issued, we may ask specific individuals within your organisation to provide, through completion of NSI personal data forms and / or other methods, relevant personal information, evidence of character and repute, references, guarantors and so on, to our satisfaction. all the information we have about the people concerned. The mere absence of information against a person is not necessarily enough. We can refuse to approve a company if we are not satisfied that we have the necessary positive evidence of repute and good character. Similarly, if we are not satisfied, we can end approval or set a condition (fo r example a condition that your approval can only continue if you remove a named individual from office). 7 Finance Criterion Guideline We can withhold approval or end approval if we have reason to believe that: your company does not have sufficient finan cial stability to be able to trade ; the financial affairs of your company are not being (or have not been) carried on in a responsible and prudent manner; or your company is not trading lawfully, meeting its just debts a nd other financial obligations. We usually get a report from a credit reference agency. We may view public records such as stat utory accounts and county court judgments. To help us form a clear picture, we may ask you to send us financial information such as annual accoun ts, monthly managem ent accounts and forward financial plans (projections). We do not usually grant Gold approval to companies that have been trading for less than two years. However, we can allow an exception if there is evidence of substantial financial backing. 8 Twenty-four hour cover Criterion Guideline You must provide a maintenance service in accordance with the standards, codes of practice and published documents in Criterion 21 . None . Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 7 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 9 Level of trading Criterion Guideline You must maintain a level of trading activity in the relevant discipline , enough for our representatives to assess and examine the standard of work carried – out and the management system applicable. F or initial approval, you are expected to have installed a sufficient number (normally four) of fire safety and emergency lighting systems or in the case of portable fire extinguisher approval have sufficient contracts to enable us to assess the standard of your work. For fire safety and emergency lighting approva l to be maintained, you should normally issue at least ten certificates each year. 10 Contracts (general) Criterion Guideline You must not try to get customers to accept contract conditions that are un – reasonable. We draw your attention to consumer protection law and good practice. 11 Maintenance contracts Criterion Guideline You need to adopt a company policy that you always draw the customer’s attention to the need for fire safety and emergency lighting systems and portable extinguishers to be adequately maintained and that you encourage your customers to enter into a maintenance service a greement with you (or an other FIRE Gold approved company) and to continue in the maintenance service agreement. Note: See also the ‘maintenance’ provisions in : BS 5266 – 1 Emergency lighting. Code of practice for the emergency escape lighting of premises BS 5306 – 3 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Commissioning and None. Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 8 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 Criterion Guideline maintenance of portable fire extinguishers. Code of practice BS 5 839 – 1 Fi re detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of systems in non – domestic premises BS 5839 – 6 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in domestic premises BS EN 15004 – 1:2008 Fixed firefighting systems. Gas extinguishing systems. Design, installation and maintenance . 12 Staff Criterion Guideline You need to have suitably trained and qualified people, sufficient to meet your obligati ons to your customers and to NSI . As a minimum, you need to have at least two suitably trained and qualified ‘staff personnel’ available for maintenance call – out. ‘Staf f personnel’ here means the managing partners of your company, the directors of your company, and employees who are on the payroll of your company. Note: Where sub – contractors are used they must be used only as allowed in NSI Quality Schedule FSQS 121 and/ or ELSQS 122 . See C riterion 15 . None. Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 9 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 13 Security screening of personnel Criterion Guideline You must have a documented policy on security screening in accordance with the relevant BAFE Scheme documents. None. 14 Customer communications Criterion Guideline You must ensure customer communications meet all the requirements of the applicable BAFE Scheme Documents and the standards they refer to. None. 15 Management of sub-contracting (outsourcing) Criterion Guideline You must keep to the requirements for sub – contracting in the relevant BAFE scheme documents and NSI quality schedule (s) FSQS 121 and/or ELSQS 122 for the application of BS EN ISO 9001 to FIRE Gold approval. None. 16 Management of complaints Criterion Guidel ine You must keep to the requirements for management of complaints in NSI quality schedule FSQS 121 and/or ELSQS 122 for the application of BS EN ISO 9001 to FIRE Gold approval. None. Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 10 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 17 Compliance with standards, codes of practice and so on Criterion Guideline You must make sure that the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire safety and emergency lighting systems and products and the maintenance of portable fire extinguishers is done to the regulations and approval criteria. This includes any work or other functions or activities that you sub – contract. It also includes work or other functions or activities that you accept as a sub – contractor. In particular, every fire safety or emergency lighting system you install must be to the B ritish Standards and other technical codes and published documents listed in these approval criteria. None. 18 Do-it-yourself kits Criterion Guideline If you supply D – I – Y systems or equipment you must not in any way associate yourself with the installation or maintenance of those systems or equipment. Also, you must not say or write anything that might in any way link D – I – Y systems or equipment with NSI. None. 19 Wiring rules Criterion Guideline You must make sure that all your electrical wiring and install ations keep to good safety practice and they meet the applicable standards and regulations. We draw your attention to BS 7671: Requirements for Electrical Installations (also known as the “IET Wiring Regulations”). It is important you take particular care over protective earthing and bonding. It is important you take particular care that wiring carrying mains voltage is electrically segregated from wiring carrying extra – low Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 11 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 Criterion Guideline voltages, and that electrical separation between circuits operating at these different voltages is achieved and maintained. If you connect into an existing electrical circuit, you need to check the existing circuit is safe and is suitable for what you are going to use it for. You may need to make certain electrical safety tests on the existing electrical installation. For example, you may need to check the type of supply system, the protective electrical (equipotential) bonding, the means (fuses or circuit breakers) for automatic disconnection , and you may need to measure the earth fault loop impedance and to verify whether the impedance is low enough to give an adequate automatic disconnection time. You need to be sure the appropriate test and inspection report(s) and certificate(s) are in p lace. For your own protection, you should keep a copy (or details) on your file. You need to keep to the relevant health and safety at work law. You need to keep to the relevant provisions of the Building Regulations (for example Part P for residential a nd similar premises in England and Wales). 20 Documented quality management system Criterion Guideline You must have a documented quality management system to BS EN ISO 9001 and NSI quality schedule FSQS 121 and/or ELSQS 122 . None. 21 British Standards and so on Criterion Guideline You must keep to the versions of the following standards and codes of practice : None. Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 12 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 For fire alarm and detection systems : BS 5839 – 1 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of systems in non – domestic premises BS 5839 – 6 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings. Code of practice for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of fire detection and fire alarm systems in domest ic premises BS 6266 Fire protection for electronic equipment installations. Code of practice BS 7273 – 4 Code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures. Actuation of release mechanisms for doors For fixed gaseous fire suppression systems: BS 5306 – 4 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Specification for carbon dioxide systems BS 7273 – 1 Code of practice for the operation of fire protection measures. Electrical actuation of gaseous total flooding extinguishing systems BS EN 15004 Fixed firefighting systems. Gas extinguishing systems. Design, installation and maintenance For portable fire extinguishers: BS 5306 – 3 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Commissioning and maintenance of portable fire extinguishers. Code of practice BS 5306 – 8 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Selection and positioning Fire Gold Approval Criteria NSI FISF 806 Issue 1 Page 13 of 13 May 2018 © NSI 2018 Criterion Guideline of portable fire extinguishers. Code of practice BS 5306 – 9 Fire extinguishing installations and equipment on premises. Rechargin g of portable fire extinguishers. Code of practice For emergency lighting systems: BS 5266 – 1: Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises BS EN 1838 Lighting applications – Emergency lighting BS EN 50172 Emergency escape lighting systems BS 7671 Requirements for electrical installations – IET Wiring Regulations 22 Fire & Rescue Service policies Criterion Guideline Y ou must comply with local Fire & R escue Service policies. See National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) policies on response to fire alarm systems.