Hi Gordon

I have always taken the view that dealing with fire safety except in the simplest environments should be left to those who know what they are talking about.

Then Grenfell (following MANY other incidents e.g. James Watt Street way back in 1968 but still relatively fresh in the memories of some of those who mentored me when I started off in HSE) led to new legislation and I expect much closer focus on the competence of those doing e.g. Fire Risk Assessments and a tightening of e.g. the insurance market for those offering fire consultancy services. 

Where such people will be asking about what someone knows about fire engineering (how structures are designed to prevent and mitigate fire risks - in particular as to structural engineering and building services considerations) and crowd behaviour - what are those present - staff, customers etc - in e.g. a large shop, cinema or sports stadium likely to do when the fire alarm goes off?

Now when someone asks about some "National" training organisation in the field of H&S etc and I have never heard of them, my first instinct is to find out who this organisation might be.

So this "NSA" is the trading name of "National Safety Group Ltd", a company only incorporated at Companies House in 2024 and which has already changed its name once. Not trying to be ageist (or perhaps reverse ageist!) but if the oldest of the three Directors is in their early 30s, how much experience do you think this company has in the field that they are now offering training in?

There ARE tried and tested training options from organisations that have been doing training in fire risk assessment, fire engineering, crowd behaviour etc etc for years. [Plenty of threads on these Forums about such courses]

Why would you think of being a guinea pig for a newbie training company?

WHO would be competently explaining e.g. the complexities of what does count as a structure that does meet each of various standards for fire protection? - and what can and does go wrong through the lifecycle of such a structure?

I do NOT mean someone who used to be a fire fighter, who might be very good at inspections and should have some knowledge of fire investigations. But someone who has been closely involved in the design and construction of structures! 

NSA appear to offer a FREE course in "What's new - BS5839-1:2025" - if there are no strings attached, why not try that as a starter to see what you get?