BAFE FAQs

BAFE is the independent registration body for Third Party Certificated fire safety service providers across the UK.

A national independent register of quality fire safety companies. All BAFE Registered Companies have been independently assessed to determine their competency to confidently deliver specific fire safety services such as fire risk assessment, fire detection and fire alarm system works and/or fire extinguisher servicing/maintenance to name a few.

BAFE develops schemes based on defined quality standards and industry best practice for fire safety service providers to achieve and become Third Party Certificated. This provides independent evidence of their competency to offer specific fire safety services. BAFE has dedicated monitoring groups for each scheme which meet regularly to ensure they continue to represent the highest levels of competency and best practice within the industry.

Company assessments are performed exclusively by UKAS Accredited Certification Bodies (licensed by BAFE). Companies are only permitted to become BAFE Registered and appear on the national BAFE Fire Safety Register whilst they hold the appropriate and valid Third Party Certification and continue to meet the criteria of the relevant BAFE Scheme (checked via regular assessments). This establishes quality evidence of their competency to fulfil specific work.

BAFE is completely independent and therefore is a totally unbiased party to help premises managers source and verify evidentially competent providers for required fire safety work. BAFE Registered Companies nationwide, from both large nationals to smaller regional businesses and sole providers, have achieved the same high quality competency criteria of one or more of the specific schemes that BAFE offer.

If you require fire safety services for your premises, then you need to specify BAFE to be sure that the companies that provide them work to best industry practice, meet all the appropriate standards and are independently assessed regularly by a UKAS Accredited Certification Body.

BAFE is registered with Companies House as British Approvals for Fire Equipment (Company Number 02001503).

BAFE however has evolved over its decades of operation to now determine competency for a multitude of specific fire safety services. Therefore, British Approvals for Fire Equipment is exclusively denoted and recognised as BAFE (and BAFE Fire Safety Register) holding appropriate trademarks for these. BAFE also holds the trademark for the tagline BAFE – British Approvals for Fire Excellence which is used for marketing purposes.

Do I have to be BAFE Registered?

Registering your organisation with BAFE is voluntary. It does however have benefits of demonstrating quality evidence of competency having chosen to be independently assessed and gaining Third-Party Certification. Whilst it is not a legal requirement, Third-Party Certification is highlighted in guidance issued by Government and the Fire and Rescue Service.

For example, GOV.UK fire safety in the workplace guidance documents note the importance of quality assurance:

“Third-party certification schemes for fire protection products and related services are an effective means of providing the fullest possible assurances, offering a level of quality, reliability and safety that non-certificated products may lack... Third-party quality assurance can offer comfort both as a means of satisfying you that goods and services you have purchased are fit for purpose, and as a means of demonstrating that you have complied with the law.”

- HM Government Fire Safety Risk Assessment Guidance Documents: Section 8 Quality assurance of fire protection equipment and installation (https://www.gov.uk/workplace-fire-safety-your-responsibilities/fire-risk-assessments).

Yes – BAFE is a fully independent body.

BAFE was first established in 1984 within FETA - Fire Extinguishing Trades Association and BFPSA - the British Fire Protection Systems Association (BAFE was registered with Companies House in 1986). Since 2009 however BAFE has been completely independent and has evolved into developing and monitoring schemes to determine competency for multiple specific fire safety services. BAFE is based in its own offices as a tenant of the Fire Service College, Moreton in Marsh.

BAFE is governed via a Board of Directors and a Council who represent all major stakeholder interests, including consumer interests, enforcement authorities, insurers, certification bodies, the trade and other interested parties.

“The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom. UKAS is recognised by government, to assess against internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services.

Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators. In short, UKAS ‘checks the checkers’. UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, limited by guarantee. UKAS is independent of Government....

…UKAS accreditation provides an assurance of the competence, impartiality and integrity of conformity assessment bodies [such as the Third Party Certification Bodies who deliver BAFE Scheme assessments].”

https://www.ukas.com/about-us/about-ukas/

Information correct as of 30/03/2021

UKAS Accredited Third Party Certification is when an independent Certification Body, which is accredited by UKAS (the national accreditation body for the UK appointed by Government), sends checked assessors (trained in the specific skills required and working to appropriate standards) to assess the company. They check and verify the required competencies and management systems to deliver a specific service (e.g. fire risk assessment). This establishes quality independent evidence (Third Party Certification) that the provider is deemed competent for a specific service – and are checked regularly (usually on an annual basis).

How does UKAS Accredited Third Party Certification differ to other types of referral and certification?

Certification has dramatically different levels of substance behind them and you should be aware of these to ensure you remain attentive to your fire safety obligations when employing external contractors to help fulfil your duties.

Then you get into the levels of Certification. For this, people should be looking for UKAS Accredited Third Party Certification. Whilst this is commonly referred to as Third Party Certification it is important to know the difference between UKAS Accredited and non-UKAS Accredited Third Party Certification.

Third Party Certification is always for a specific service, this in most instances will never cover all services a provider may offer. Providers may have achieved UKAS Accredited Third Party Certification for multiple services, but each service offered will have had to undergo independent assessment to provide evidence of their competency for that specific area.

Further Reading:

UKAS - Accreditation Vs Certification

https://www.ukas.com/accreditation/about/accreditation-vs-certification

BAFE offer distinct competency schemes for the following services:

• Fire extinguisher servicing/maintenance (BAFE Scheme no. SP101)
• Fire Risk Assessment (BAFE Scheme no. SP205)
• Kitchen fire protection systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP206)
• Dry and Wet Riser/Falling Installations servicing/maintenance (BAFE Scheme no. SP105)

The SP203 suite of schemes (listed below) consists of three separate schemes. These are all modular using the SP203 format, meaning a company can achieve Third Party Certification and BAFE Registration in one or more of these skills. Both the SP207 and SP203 suite of schemes offer competency criteria for the design, installation, commissioning and/or maintenance of:

• Fire detection and fire alarms systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP203-1)
• Fixed gaseous fire extinguishing systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP203-3)
• Emergency lighting systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP203-4)
• Evacuation Alert Systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP207)

BAFE also acknowledge the following two BRE/LPCB Third Party Certification schemes to allow BAFE Registration:

• LPS 1014 Fire Detection and Alarm Systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP201)*
• LPS 1204 Fixed Extinguishing Systems (BAFE Scheme no. SP202)

*The BAFE SP201 Scheme acknowledges providers who hold LPS 1014 Fire Detection and Alarm Systems Third Party Certification (this covers all four modules).

No - BAFE does not directly supply fire safety services. BAFE is a comprehensive register of independently assessed Third Party Certificated companies that you can use to source a competent fire safety service provider to fulfil specific requirements.

All the companies that feature on the BAFE Register are Third Party Certificated for one or more services that the BAFE suite of competency schemes cover.

It is important your chosen provider is Third Party Certificated/BAFE Registered for the specific service you require.

BAFE is not a Certification Body. BAFE develop scheme criteria which licensed UKAS Accredited Certification Bodies then use to assess fire safety service providers. This is to determine competency to deliver a specific fire safety service. A company must hold Third Party Certification to a BAFE scheme to become BAFE Registered. If a company loses their Third Party Certification to a BAFE scheme, they also lose their BAFE Registration with immediate effect for that scheme.

BAFE is not a trade association. The major difference between BAFE and trade associations is that a company is not paying to become a member of an industry group. Instead a company is establishing evidence of their competence by being independently assessed and Third Party Certificated. Only then are companies allowed to become BAFE Registered.

BAFE do not have "members", the BAFE Register is a publicly accessible database of fire safety companies who are Third Party Certificated via UKAS Accredited Third Party Certification Bodies to specific BAFE Scheme criteria.

No - BAFE is not a fire safety training provider.

BAFE do offer invigilation services for the BS 5306 exam, but this training is performed by external providers.

Only organisations that are BAFE Registered can use the BAFE Registered Organisation Logo (which features a unique BAFE Registered Organisation ID).

The BAFE and BAFE Fire Safety Register logos are registered trademarks owned by BAFE. Only BAFE and BAFE Licensed Certification Bodies are permitted to use the BAFE corporate logo (i.e. without a BAFE Registered Organisation ID) without prior permission.

For all details on BAFE logo use, please refer to the BAFE Brand Guidelines document available.

Complaints/reports of BAFE logo misuse must be made in line with our Complaint Resolution Process document available using the link below. Please review this prior to contacting the appropriate body.

Complaints must be made in line with our information available using the link below. Please review this prior to contacting the appropriate body.

If you are ever unsure on anything you are looking for, please contact BAFE Head Office. We will be more than happy to assist you in finding quality, third-party certificated, BAFE registered organisations to help meet your fire safety requirements.

In the instance that you require specific services that the BAFE schemes do not cover, it is still strongly advised to check if your chosen organisation is appropriately third-party certificated via another body.

All BAFE Scheme Documents (and supporting documentation) can be found in the Become BAFE Registered section of the website. Please select the appropriate BAFE Scheme you are looking for in this section to source the correct Scheme Documentation.

https://www.bafe.org.uk/become-bafe-registered

Please visit the appropriate BAFE Scheme page in the Become BAFE Registered section for information. These pages contain an overview of the process and provide appropriate Scheme Documentation.

https://www.bafe.org.uk/become-bafe-registered