Promat: Committed to competency

This is especially the case for manufacturers, installers and anyone involved in the process of specifying life critical products, such as passive fire protection systems.

Within the Building Safety Act individuals and organisations must be able to evidence their competency through demonstrating the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours (SKEB) that enable them to work to the highest standards to meet the specific demands of construction and ensure the safety of a building through its lifetime.

Demonstrating competence

As a leading manufacturer of passive fire protection systems, Promat is committed to the highest levels of competency in the research, development and testing of products and systems - and the support that is offered to contractors, specifiers and installers.

Taking an active role in the implementation and progression of regulatory standards for the passive fire protection industry, Promat looks to not only meet, but exceed, the standards needed to enhance building safety.

On a practical level this means ensuring the right knowledge, experience and testing is in place. All Promat employees undergo extensive training to ensure they understand how our products work – and the role of passive fire protection.

Knowledge, evidenced testing, and expertise is essential to demonstrate competence.

Third-party testing

Robust, third-party testing is the gold standard in demonstrating competence – and to ensure that passive fire protection systems will perform as expected.

All Promat products are independently verified through third party testing, to ensure safety and reliability – and that they meet the highest tested standard for the application.

 This commitment to product testing underpins Promat’s dedication to ensuring the highest level of quality and competency in its products and services, with constant testing taking place to further enhance the tested solutions for each product to meet a wider range of applications.

Knowledge

The industry-recognised qualification for passive fire specialists, the IFE Level 3 in Passive Fire Protection demonstrates a high level of understanding on how built-in fire safety products are used to protect buildings from the spread of fire. All Promat employees working in the specification and technical teams are now working towards, or have achieved, the IFE qualification in passive fire protection or the ASFP level 3 training.

In addition, employees engaged in a technical role are expected to keep up to date with any relevant legislation changes and industry initiatives to ensure their understanding of passive fire protection is up to date. This includes networking, which is a valuable way to discuss challenges and solutions in the built environment, while several employees also sit on committees that inform and feedback on change through organisations such as the ASFP.

Training

To further support the highest standards in competency, all customer services, marketing, and research and development team members at Promat now undertake practical training, where they are tasked with measuring and cutting the most appropriate fire protection board, before correctly installing it in different applications.

By introducing practical training, alongside further in-house training, for more staff, Promat aims to ensure a clear understanding of exactly how its products work and why accuracy is so important at all stages of the process, from manufacturing to supply and installation.

Experience

Experience is an essential component of competency. With more than four decades in the fire protection industry, Promat can demonstrate considerable expertise, gained through experience in developing innovative solutions to protect buildings from the rapid spread of fire. This includes an in-depth understanding of the challenges posed, and how to meet these.  

The expertise and experience within the technical teams enables Promat to offer bespoke project support when needed, which is essential in ensuring the correct fire safety systems are installed in applications that may fall outside of tested parameters.

To ensure collective competency, it is vital all individuals play an active role in taking responsibility for sharing knowledge, accountability and development. Having the right people in the right places is vital to this.

Shared accountability will support the highest standards in building safety, ensuring that it meets regulatory standards – and that the products used, and the installation, are fit for purpose.