BAFE Schemes

BAFE SP101 Competency of Portable Fire Extinguisher Organisations and Technicians

BAFE SP101 Competency of Portable Fire Extinguisher Organisations and Technicians Scheme

A step by step process of how to become third-party certificated and BAFE Registered to the BAFE SP101 Competency of Portable Fire Extinguisher Organisations and Technicians Scheme can be found below.

The BAFE SP101 Competency of Portable Fire Extinguisher Organisations and Technicians Scheme exists to determine the competency of both the organisation who provides portable fire extinguisher works and their employed fire extinguisher technicians.

The BAFE SP101 competency scheme is recognised as the best in the fire extinguisher service industry to provide independent evidence of competency. This demonstrates your chosen organisation can confidently deliver fire extinguisher works with safe, knowledgeable, and skilled professionals.

Important Information
The BAFE SP101 Competency of Portable Fire Extinguisher Organisations and Technicians competency scheme is administrated differently (in two stages) to the other BAFE competency schemes available.
Technicians cannot register independently to BAFE. A fire extinguisher technician requiring registration must be employed by an organisation who has achieved third-party certification and BAFE Registration to the BAFE SP101 competency scheme.

Please Note

The BAFE SP101 Competency of Portable Fire Extinguisher Organisations and Technicians Scheme Document outlines all the requirements for gaining BAFE SP101 Registration (see Downloads). The step by step information below is an outline of the process.

STAGE ONE (Assessment performed by a UKAS accredited certification body)

Becoming a third-party certificated organisation to the scope of BAFE SP101

Step 1

Check requirements of the BAFE SP101 competency scheme – download and read the BAFE SP101 competency scheme document (see Downloads). For this scheme you do not need ISO9001 certification. However, you are required to have robust quality Management Systems in place. This is explained in the competency scheme document (Clause 8). An internal review should be performed using this document to see if your organisation complies with all the necessary requirements.

Step 2

UKAS accredited certification bodies (licensed by BAFE) deliver the BAFE SP101 competency scheme organisation assessments. Please contact your chosen certification body directly to discuss the BAFE SP101 organisation assessment process and costs.

Certification Body Contact Information for BAFE SP101 Assessment - ISO9001 Route

Certification Body Contact Information for BAFE SP101 Assessment - Management System Route

Your chosen Certification Body will deliver the BAFE SP101 competency scheme organisation assessment. On satisfactory completion of the assessment the applicant organisation will be awarded third-party certification to the scope of BAFE SP101. Stage two of the process must then be completed to become a BAFE SP101 Registered Organisation.

Important Information
Gaining third-party certification to the scope of BAFE SP101 does not permit you to promote your organisation as BAFE SP101 Registered. You must complete the second stage of the BAFE SP101 process (BAFE Application and Fire Extinguisher Technician Registration) to do so (see below).

STAGE TWO (Directly via BAFE including fire extinguisher technician on-site assessments)

BAFE Application and Fire Extinguisher Technician Registration

Step 1

Complete the Organisation Application Form for BAFE SP101 and return to BAFE. Alongside the organisation application form, you must provide:

  • A copy of your certification body certificate. I.E. your ISO9001 (To the scope for BAFE SP101) certificate or Management System (to the scope of BAFE SP101) certificate.
  • Organisation application fee payment (see Fee Sheet for information).
  • Application forms for one or more fire extinguisher technicians with a current/valid BS 5306 exam certificate (and refresher training certificates if applicable), evidence of current/valid health and safety training and asbestos awareness training (for each technician).

Important: All fire extinguisher technicians employed must be registered as per requirements of the BAFE SP101 competency scheme document. Applicant organisations will be charged a fire extinguisher technician application fee per technician on application, which includes the initial assessment. Please note the application fee for technicians also applies to any additional technicians added after this process (i.e. once an organisation has achieved BAFE SP101 Registered Organisation status). Please see Fee Sheet for further details.

Step 2

Once this information is submitted to BAFE (and payment has been received), the organisation and fire extinguisher technicians are given ‘Applicant’ status. During this time, you are still not permitted to provide works under the BAFE SP101 competency scheme or promote your organisation as a BAFE SP101 Registered Organisation.

At least one fire extinguisher technician must be fully verified before the organisation can provide fire extinguisher services under the BAFE SP101 competency scheme.

For more information regarding the BAFE SP101 fire extinguisher technician application process please click here

Step 3

Once your organisation has been approved and registered with at least one verified BAFE SP101 Registered Fire Extinguisher Technician, the organisation will be added to the national BAFE Fire Safety Register as a BAFE SP101 Registered Organisation.

The organisation will then be sent an invoice for the BAFE SP101 Registration annual fee (which is charged pro-rata for the first year). See Fee Sheet for further details.

At this point you will be allowed to use the BAFE SP101 logo to promote your independently assessed competence to provide portable fire extinguisher service and maintenance.

Important Information
Once this process is complete, the BAFE SP101 Registered Organisation will be subject to ongoing assessments via their chosen certification body (usually on an annual basis) to ensure that you continue to comply with the BAFE SP101 competency scheme requirements.
BAFE registered fire extinguisher technicians will also be subject to ongoing assessments and must provide ongoing evidence of refresher training every three years and valid health and safety and asbestos awareness training when required/upon request.