Can Third-Party Accreditation Help Fire Protection Companies

Accreditations are the natural linear future for the fire protection industry, especially following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry. Building safety regulations on the whole are likely to be revamped and existing regulations will likely be revised and become more heavily enforced. Sometimes, it’s not a lack of regulation, but the enforcement of existing regulations. This is where accreditations can be of some support.

In a nutshell, the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, UKAS, sets the standard for accreditations in the UK. They either audit and certify companies themselves, or appoint third party accreditation bodies to audit and certify industry niches. In an industry where accreditation certificates are required, auditors enforce the quality standards set out by UKAS. In accreditation-driven industries, if a company does not pass their audit and loses their main accreditations, it impacts their ability to work or can even cost them their licence, forcing them to shutter until they regain their certification. While there are many companies who perform audits and issue certificates, UKAS sets the standard. This is the projected direction which the fire protection industry seems to be heading: accreditation requirements ensure that the work is done to a UKAS standard, reducing potential shortcuts and enforcing regulations.

Accreditations aren’t all bad. They help us ensure that the work completed is safe and executed correctly. A short look back at history gives enough context to understand why accreditations and working to a compliance standard are the best ways forward for the overall industry. Yes, it would mean that if a business cuts corners it could be forced to close, but looking at the overall health and safety aspects, one can see why that is important.

Accreditations and Onetrace active and passive fire protection traceability software

Onetrace, unlike other options available, is compliance driven to the latest accreditation standards and built with accreditations as a core function in the workflow. When your team uses Onetrace effectively, your business is one step closer to being compliant with third party accreditations. This simple framework incorporation can save your business a lot of time and money in the long run, even if you don’t currently have any accreditations.

When your team uses Onetrace, half the work is practically done. Accreditation audits are a nightmare, even for the most organised companies. However, how much of a nightmare depends on how prepared you are in advance. Let’s look a common scenario. The year is 2022, you don’t have any accreditations yet, but you are applying to have one, and you haven’t been using Onetrace. The sheer volume of administrative work that will need to be completed in preparation for your accreditation audit is huge, possibly gargantuan. Your team will be working around the clock to identify your past projects and missing files, cross checking all details to ensure that they are all quality checked, more than once, and adding in any missing photos or drawings. Normally, your team on-site would be sending photos in via email or in a WhatsApp group, if they remember to. Now think of the mess trying to find the right photos for a job done eight months ago with a team member who is no longer with your business. Nightmare fuel, right?

Now, here is a similar situation with a much better outcome than the one above. The year is 2022, you are applying for your first accreditation, but you have been using Onetrace, this amazing active and passive fire protection traceability godsend and audit nightmare eliminator. You’re a month away from audit day, and there’s a lot of work to be done. All your files need to be double and triple checked but you’ll notice that your team has been uploading photos and marking up their drawings right from the app, which means that they are all in their correct files, and that side of the administrative work is pretty much done. Photos from jobs that happened a year ago are all in their right places, save for a couple which can be easily tracked down. The team can access everything they need from wherever they are working from, allowing your office and site teams to pitch in without being disruptive to their daily routines. And because your team uses Onetrace, your fire protection operatives are much more efficient, giving them the ability to pitch in when their jobs are done, since they don’t have a massive pile up of admin work to do at the end of every work day.

The most compliance-driven active and passive fire protection traceability app

Working with Onetrace gives your business better efficiency and gives your team a more compliance-driven workflow. We continue to innovate and iterate our software to ensure that your team can always work to the latest compliance standards. Are you ready to become more compliance aligned? All you need to do is get in touch or request a demo. If you’re not ready to commit, that’s okay - you can try Onetrace completely free for 14 days with zero obligation or commitment! It’s really that simple.