Posted By sezm2105 Hi, I am trying to persuade my HR dept not to bring the Fire Warden Training inhouse- its all about cost cutting and the like. However the previous course, ran by the fire service received such great feedback and gave them great skills such as practical experience of fire and the use of fire extingushers that we cannot give them I really looking forward to making the case. The problem is HR don't know the difference or the Why behind why I want the fire wardens to go on this particular training. Any tips or links or even evidence that this type of training is much more effective than in house training conducted in a board room by the red cross would be greatly appreciated.we are a young company so don't have any stats or feedback forms from training. This is due to be changed with this next course. Any help or hints and tips would be greatly appreciated. sarah

Posted By Andy F Hi Sarah Regarding the training of your fire wardens. Regardless of whether this is completed in house or by external organisations such as the fire service, the level of training for competence should meet the current National Occupational Standards(NOS) for fire safety ( Units FSA0 – FSA3). Unfortunately many fire services themselves do not train fire wardens to these standards and most external training companies do not know that they even exist! I do have the current Units detailed above (although they are at present being reviewed/revised) electronically if your HR department needs a copy. My own company had been utilising these for many years to ensure that our training meets the required standards. When I lead the team that wrote the NEBOSH Level 3 Fire cert I made sure that we used the NOS and I recommend that all training in fire safety is based on such standards, the fire service themselves have to use them to train their own staff. Regards Andy Furness (Chair IOSH Fire Risk Management Group)

Posted By Stephen.Jones Andy F, In response to your posting, i am reviewing Fire Warden training and wondered if i can have a copy of the NOS for Fire Safety to look at? Many Thanks

Posted By N Smith Andy F Could you send me a copy of the NOS for fire safety please? Thanks Neil

Posted By Andy F Hi N and Sarah sent NOS to your email addresses Sarah unfortunately although the NOS are out there fire & rescue service tend only to use them as reference for their own staff. We provide training to many fire services ourselves and from our experience, when they train 'outside bodies' they tend to forget the NOS and concentrate on making a memorable day by letting loose delegates with a fire extinguishers(which is what most people remember)on a 'real fire'. When I was working in the fire service (as the Commercial and Industrial Training Unit Manager for a time), that was what I remember most delegate feedback was on cheers Andy