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The Welsh government is to investigate making it mandatory for the design, installation and maintenance of sprinkler systems to be carried out only by members of a third-party certification scheme.
The news came to light in a letter from Welsh Assembly minister Lesley Griffiths to David Rowlands, chair of the Welsh Assembly’s petitions committee.
Griffiths’ letter followed a request from a petitioner to relating to guidance for the installation and commissioning requirements for automatic fire suppression systems within Approved Document B (fire safety) of the Building Regulations 2010.
Current guidance states that third party certification schemes for fire protection products and services are “an effective means of providing the fullest possible assurances, offering a level of quality, reliability and safety”.
Compliance with the requirements of Building Regulations can currently be met in other ways, other than third part accreditation, such as proving competence of installing and commissioning fire suppression systems to the Building Control Body even when not registered with a third part certification scheme.
Griffiths letter said: “Work is currently underway on a review of the fire safety requirements of the Building Regulations following the independent inquiry undertaken by Dame Judith Hackitt following the Grenfell Tower fire in London.
“Fire suppression systems form a crucial part in the fire safety provisions within buildings, particularly in high-rise buildings. We will therefore investigate, as part of this work, whether there is sufficient evidence to justify that those registered with third party certification schemes should be considered as the only method of meeting the requirements of Building Regulations for the installation and commissioning of fire suppression systems.”
