Tech-News & Views

APRIL 2017
 

FIRE TECHNICIANS NETWORK CERTIFICATION INITIATIVE MAKING A SPLASH!

Surrey, British Columbia - March’s launch of Canada’s newest Fire Protection Equipment Service Technician Certification Programme is at the top of our website’s “most visited” pages for the month of March, after only seven days!  Word is getting out there!  Visit our updated Programmes and Services Page for more information, or click on the links to the right.

CANADIAN FIRE ALARM TRAINING!

Surrey, British Columbia - We’re touring the country in May and June with stops in Richmond, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, and St. Johns (Nfld).  For more information (and to sign up for classes), please visit the Electricity Forum Training Institute.

CFAA CONTINUING EDUCATION

Toronto, Ontario - The CFAA has partnered with the Health and Safety Management Group to deliver the CFAA component of their required continuing education credits for technicians.  If you’re a CFAA Certified Technician you need eight (8) credits per year, at least TWO (2) of which are Category One (CFAA sponsored courses), but can top up on the additional six (6) with other relevant training.  Apparently several FULL DAY CFAA sponsored technical seminars are being offered.  This gives their technicians in Ontario the advantage of getting the “full meal deal” for $285.00.  We would actually encourage you to try and attend.  Not only do you benefit from the knowledge you’ll gain from several of our industry’s leading experts, you’ll also be able to engage your social networking skills!

A quick look on the website at http://www.thehsmg.com prompted us to tabulate this Cost Comparison Chart for fire alarm / fire protection equipment training and certification being offered in Canada.

VANCOUVER WITHDRAWS BULLETIN 2003-009-BU/EL AND SERVES UP THE REAL PIZZA!

Vancouver, British Columbia - Notice something MISSING from Vancovuer’s Electrical Inspection page at http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/electrical-inspection.aspx ?  Vancouver has decided to offload the task of maintaining the List of Qualified Verifiers to the people that are supposed to review and approve the fire alarm system’s CAN/ULC-S537 Appendix “C” Report, the Registered Professional that designed (or is consulting on) its installation.  The amended Bulletin 2000-021-BU/EL provides a fillable “C1” Report page as an annex item and further clarifies their new policy with some familiar looking phraseology taken directly from the CAN/ULC-S537-13 (Standard for Verification of Fire Alarm Systems) Recipe Book:

“The PREFACE of the Standard describes the FAS verification to be carried out by the qualified personnel of an organization other than the installing contractor and designer.  Furthermore, the Appendix A of Standard describes qualified personnel perform the verification of a FAS to be familiar with this Standard and have received suitable formal training or sufficient experience acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction.”

But then they go on to add some extra sauce:

“It is important to note, qualified persons involved in a verification procedure must have sufficient technical knowledge of the FAS components, their function and performance, and must have necessary electrical qualification for evaluating conformance of these devices with installation provisions mandated by the CAN/ULC-S524 and Section 32 of the Canadian Electrical Code, Part I.”

And finally they deliver this pizza, hot and fresh, right to the door of the guy that ordered it:

“It is also important to note, the FAS design and field review are covered by the Registered Professional’s Schedule B, item 6.3 of this Schedule lists the functional testing of electrical related fire emergency systems and devices which covers the FAS verification, it is the responsibility of the Registered Professional to ensure and determine that the FAS is verified by the qualified persons.”

Perfecto!  We’ll repeat that last bit for emphasis.  “... it is the responsibility of the Registered Professional to ensure and determine that the FAS is verified by the qualified persons.”

The Verification landscape in Vancouver has just undergone a radical change; one which I know will reflect positively on our knowledgeable and committed community of design professionals. 

May we take this one step further by suggesting that members of the Professional Engineering communities across Canada familiarize themselves with the many BENEFITS of utilizing the highly trained and fully qualified Technologists and Specialists REGISTERED under Canada’s newest building life safety equipment and systems inspection and testing initiative:

The Fire Technicians Network’s Professional Certification Programme.

ON THE SUBJECT OF VERIFICATION, WE’VE UPDATED OUR 2016 EDITORIAL - SPOTTING A ROGUE VERIFIER!

Surrey, British Columbia - Formal complaints were filed with both ASTTBC and the CFAA with respect to the Verification performed, and documented by the RFPT involved in the first example provided above.  The bogus Commissioning Report, in the second example, was filed by another technician who is no longer part of ASTTBC’s RFPT programme (thankfully).  ASTTBC assigned an independent reviewer to investigate the alleged violations of both the Practice Guidelines and Code of Ethics suggested by the deficient CAN/ULC-S537-04 documentation that was provided (Complaint Case #16-09).  The investigation report was submitted to the Practice Review Board in March of 2016 and the RFPT was found GUILTY of violating the Code of Ethics and the Practice Guideline....  Read the UPDATE!

THE ELEPHANTS IN B.C.’S LOWER MAINLAND HAVE TO LEARN SOME NEW DANCE MOVES!

Vancouver, British Columbia - The installation of outdoor mounted fire alarm annunciators, while not of particular interest to most jurisdictions outside of the Province of British Columbia, has taken on some whole new twists here recently.  The tempo hasn’t changed...  Just the music.  If you’re installing, Verifying and testing fire alarm systems that employ them, you should know that we’ve updated the Tech-News EXTRA! we published last year (December, 2016).  And we have to ask the question:  Is anyone at ASTTBC or the CFAA even paying attention?

Read all about it... !

FIRE ALARM INSPECTION COURSE IN PRINCE GEORGE, KELOWNA & CRANBROOK!

Prince George, British Columbia - We’re taking the practical component of our exclusive online Fire Alarm Inspection Course on the road in August.  We’re anticipating that we’ll be in Kelowna, Prince George and Cranbrook.  The courses will be taught over a three day weekend (that’s a consecutive Friday, Saturday and Sunday).  For more information on the courses (and to reserve your spot), please visit our Training Centre and watch for announcements about venues, dates and times.

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ONLINE TRAINING COURSES EXPANDED!

Surrey, British Columbia - Technicians seeking to score some Continuing Education Credits and qualify to renew their CFAA Certification now have some clear and topical online training modules to choose from, not to mention, we’re adding more every week.  Modules are priced between $10.00 and $15.00 which should encourage maximum participation.  We look forward to seeing you all online!

SHHH!  ASTTBC SECRET SYMPOSIUM!

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (AKA “Laurel and Hardy”) Image is the Copyright © of RHI Entertainment LLC & CCA (Cinematographische Commerz-Anstalt)

Surrey, British Columbia -  It’s not quite the worst kept secret in the industry, so we may as well share the link to the ASTTBC Symposium that’s going to be “particularly important for the Authorities Having Jurisdiction, Fire Company Owners and RFPTs”.  At long last, the much anticipated new Standard of Practice (SoP) has been released for review and comment!

Here’s the link to the official invitation:  http://ymlp.com/zjaRGB

Here’s the link to the draft version of the SoP:
http://www.fireprotection.asttbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/2017-04-25-RFPT-SoP.pdf

If you want to attend, it’s important for you to send an email RSVP to Karen McDiarmid at fp@asttbc.org.  It’s slated to be an all-day event and they need input from industry stakeholders.  Did we mention there’s FREE FOOD?  Well, there’s FREE FOOD!

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for May 17th.  The Symposium is going to held in a secret location somewhere in the “Surrey Guildford area”.  By the way, there’s FREE FOOD!

And mum’s the woid!

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