Experienced worker assessment supplements FESS apprenticeship

In the five years since the FESS Apprenticeship standard launched, there have been around 1000 registrations for the apprenticeship – a great start to a new and consistent approach to training across the fire and security sector. 

Following the development of the apprenticeship standard, the next key step has been to look at how to qualify existing workers to the same standard, so that the whole workforce could be assessed and accredited against the same benchmark. 

The output of this work is the FESS Experienced Worker Assessment (EWA) which is now available from National Electrotechnical Training (NET). To develop the assessment, NET worked with a group of industry bodies that included FSA, BSIA, FIA and SSAIB. 

Currently the EWA route is available for fire industry technicians who have typically been working with active fire systems for five years or more. Work is also underway to confirm arrangements for experienced workers who specialise in specific areas within the sector e.g. installation or maintenance. Significantly, development work on an EWA route for the security sector started in October.

For fire technicians, the new EWA assessment involves several elements which must be completed within 12 months. Candidates will need to carry out and record a range of specified tasks in their workplace (covering health and safety, installation, commissioning, inspection and servicing) and upload the evidence to the ‘NET assess’ system.

The Fire, Emergency and Security Systems (FESS) Apprenticeship Trailblazer standard was developed by an employer group with the support of the Fire and Security Association (FSA), the Fire Industry Association (FIA), the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) and other industry stakeholders as part of the Government’s Trailblazer initiative.

These tasks will be verified by an authorised person to ensure it’s the candidate’s own work, then independently assessed and marked by a NET assessor to confirm they have met the Level 3 industry standard. NET will also carry out quality assurance audits after marking is completed.

Then, in a NET-licensed centre, candidates will be required to complete safe isolation of a single-phase circuit, under observation. Finally, unless the candidate can show they have already achieved a recognised qualification, they will undertake a 90-minute online knowledge assessment in a NET centre, under controlled conditions. 

The Experienced Worker Assessment is another important milestone in the development of the fire and security sector. Successful completion is recognised by the Electrotechnical Certification Scheme and can be used towards a FESS ECS Gold Card application.  

For more information on the FESS Experienced Worker Assessment visit: www.netservices.org.uk/fess-ewa