SSAIB News

SSAIB were delighted to host the first meeting between the Fire Emergency and Security Systems Employers Group (FESS) and the Northern Ireland Fire and Security Employers Federation (NIFSEF) earlier this month – as it allowed an opportunity for an exchange of information between both groups.

SSAIB training manager Trevor Jenks revealed that the pioneering meeting – which took place on Monday February 10 at SSAIB’s headquarters in Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear – was “essential” to breaking down the current geographical barriers of the UK’s security apprenticeship market.

Trevor stated: “The SSAIB is thrilled to have facilitated this opportunity for both the representative groups to meet - for the first time - to discuss the work they are doing in developing apprenticeships and a competency-based engineer standard within their region of the UK.

“It is essential that this work results in a single common competency-based engineer Standard within the UK, despite regional differences in the funding and local qualification structures - allowing recognised engineers to work anywhere within the UK.”

FESS vice-chairman Kevin Faulkner was also full of positives following the initial meeting between the two groups, as he added: “It was very useful talking to Ian from NIFSEF and good to hear that there is a lot of common interests shared in raising the standards of competency within the fire and security systems sector.

“I look forward to having further meetings to help create a skills strategy for the UK within our sector.”

Meanwhile, Ian Fiddis, the NIFSEF chairman, was delighted to see that some “common ground” had been found regarding the “mutual recognition of apprentices in the UK” and revealed that he hopes that this meeting is the first of many further discussions in future.

Ian said: “While the apprentice programmes in the four nations are all very different, it was good to be able to meet and discuss the areas of common ground - in order to establish the mutual recognition of apprentices throughout the UK.  It was also good to meet both Kevin and Richard and I will look forward to further meetings in the future.”

All parties agreed that the meeting had been constructive - due to building closer connections and understanding between both groups and the work they are developing – and plans are already in place for another meeting at SSAIB headquarters in the near future.

SSAIB have moved to secure a brand new Twitter handle – after finally persuading Twitter to release @SSAIB from a dormant account.

The industry-leading UKAS-accredited certification body for Security Systems, Fire Safety and Guarding had been using the handle @theSSAIB on the popular social network, but have now made the switch over to the new handle – in an effort to clear up any confusion for those trying to interact with SSAIB on the platform.

PR and communications executive Glen Maxwell noticed that the @SSAIB account had not been updated for nearly a decade and he revealed his elation when Twitter granted the leading certification body for the fire and security industries their request to migrate their old account across.

Glen commented: “We’re delighted to have finally been able to claim the @SSAIB handle for ourselves and are grateful for the help that Twitter gave us in facilitating this change.

“We took the decision to move across to the new handle because we had a number of instances where we’d notice that people had thought they had mentioned us in their tweets, but had incorrectly used the @SSAIB handle. Although we managed to keep a handle on when this was happening, it did make us wonder about if any slipped through without us realising.

“When we looked at that account, it was clear – due to having no photos, header or tweets since June 2010 – that it was a dormant account, so we asked the question to Twitter and they agreed to release the handle and transfer our account across to it.

“Despite the new handle, we’re not expecting our social media output to suffer in any way. Therefore, our followers can still expect all of the latest SSAIB news, industry updates and everything else they come to expect from us straight to their news feeds.”

For anyone not already following SSAIB on Twitter, the new @SSAIB profile can be found at https://twitter.com/ssaib.

SSAIB have received a request from the National Police Chief Council (NPCC) to pass on the following message to all of our registered firms.

The National Police Chief Council Security Systems Working Group have made a decision to increase the cost of the administration fee each Force charges to issue unique reference numbers for remote signalling systems requiring a Police response. The charges - which have remained static for seven years - will be increased by 5% with effect from April 1, 2020 and are as follows: 

SSAIB are proud to have been named as the official Installer Partner for the 2020 IFSEC and FIREX shows, taking place once again at London’s ExCeL from May 19-21.

As the leading certification body for security and fire alarm installation professionals, manned guarding services and monitoring, SSAIB-approved companies are exclusively invited to IFSEC and FIREX 2020 to meet with trained SSAIB personnel and engage with over 500 leading manufacturers and suppliers of security and fire safety technologies and services.

IFSEC and FIREX are the perfect learning environments for SSAIB companies where they can spend three days totally immersed in state-of-the-art technologies, solutions and discussions all focused around the driving issues in security and fire. It’s where the entire security and fire communities always come together to collaborate, ask the big questions and find the practical answers to their current challenges.

SSAIB will also use its time at IFSEC and FIREX to host the regional South East meeting at the show, which makes it convenient for approved companies to make full use of their time at IFSEC; mixing SSAIB business with their own fact-finding and discovery.

The 2020 events also mark the return of SSAIB to FIREX International, where they’ll be on hand to discuss various BAFE-approved certification opportunities in fire system design and installation, life safety risk assessment and the correct use and maintenance of portable extinguisher equipment. With the national agenda now firmly fixed on promoting certified life safety schemes and awareness, SSAIB’s presence at FIREX International will rigorously contribute to the show’s stated aims of promoting expertise and guidance in life safety.

In line with the new decade, SSAIB will once again host the official Installer Bar in IFSEC that will have a dedicated ‘Roaring 20s’ theme to herald 2020. Look out for the Prohibition ‘speakeasy’ themes although, rest assured, none of the refreshments will be bootlegged!

SSAIB chief executive Alex Carmichael commented: “We are delighted to be named as the official installer partner for IFSEC and FIREX International 2020 – as they are the premier events for both the fire and security industries and we would very much encourage our registered firms to visit us there in May.

“We’ve also incorporated our South East regional meeting into IFSEC 2020, because it gives the many firms that attend our events the opportunity to immerse themselves in all the latest developments and technologies on show at IFSEC and FIREX. Not only can they do this and hear all the latest updates we’ll be sharing, but they’ll also be invited to join us at our Installer Bar for an informal catch-up and refreshments too.

“SSAIB has enjoyed a lot of success lending our name to an IFSEC bar over the last two years, so we’ve decided to try and build on that further by making a welcome return to FIREX as well. Due to the sheer size of the two shows, it’s not always possible to take in everything in one visit and – this way – you’ll get two chances of asking any questions you might have about the many schemes that SSAIB provide certification for.”

IFSEC and FIREX warmly welcome our ever-strengthening partnership with SSAIB and look forward to welcoming their approved companies to next year’s shows. With such comprehensive coverage across the whole of the UK, we’re looking forward to meeting SSAIB’s professional installers at IFSEC and FIREX and helping them overcome the everyday security and fire challenges they encounter.

Rachel Eaton, event manager for IFSEC International and FIREX International commented: “I am very excited to announce the SSAIB as the official Installer Partner of IFSEC International and FIREX International in 2020. The SSAIB has been a champion of IFSEC for over two decades, so I’m also delighted to see the SSAIB return to support FIREX as well.

"Due to the strong relationship we have with the SSAIB, we have managed to bring Scottish installers back to both events; hugely improving the diversity of visitors and exhibitors we have on site.”