FPANZ Passive SIG Update

In this update, Justin McEntyre, Chair of the Passive SIG writes that the group has come a long way, evidenced by the recently released Passive Fire Product register (online filterable version) and Intumescent Coatings Code of Practice.

From problem child to industry leader the Passive SIG has been busy over the past 5 years working on fixing the issues that once plagued our industry.

FPANZ Passive SIG has front footed the problems with deliverables such as the Passive Fire Products register, Intumescent Coatings Code of Practice, Position Statements, NZQA Qualifications, Get it Right seminars and we’ve also been busy with iterations to these over the past 2 years.

For FireNZ we are pleased to showcase two of our latest efforts being:

1 - Passive Fire Product register - online filterable version

2 - Intumescent Coatings Code of Practice - Version 2.0

The work behind the scenes to get the Passive Products Register to the new online filterable version has been an immense project over the past 2.5 years. This has involved various working groups, customer trial & feedback sessions, product development and manufacturer engagement.

The new online register is designed specifically with an end user in mind to assist the likes of councils, contractors, specifiers and Engineers in their quest to ensure buildings are compliant. This is accessed via the FPANZ website and is up and ready for users to register and start using.

The Intumescent Coatings Code of Practice underwent its first review and is now proudly being released for the wider market. This iteration has closed out some details and refined expectations, roles and responsibilities.

Version 1.0 was greatly received by the industry and the compliance of design & application of Intumescent coatings in NZ has already increased greatly. We believe the continual improvement of this document will be greatly accepted by the industry and continue to develop the maturity of the Intumescent coatings industry.

A huge success for the industry in recent years has been the development and implementation of the NZQA Level 3 Passive Fire installers qualification. This has delivered 100 qualified tradespeople into the industry.

Along with NZQA Level 4 inspection qualification and the Open Polytechnics Diploma in Fire Engineering there is a genuine career path for the likes of school leavers, those retraining or existing people within the industry. This is a massive achievement for the industry delivered by the industry.

Passive Fire is now one of the key participants on any construction project and existing building compliance. It is a mature and recognised trade across the country. The future of FPANZ Passive SIG is exciting as we can put our efforts into really developing the maturity of the industry as opposed to dealing with the distractions and bad news that once plagued us.

We continuously monitor your building’s fire alarm system and automatically pass the fire alarms directly to the Fire Service and the system faults to your alarm service agents. This ensures that fire alarms will be acted on as quickly as possible by the Fire Service, but also that your fire alarm systems remain reliable and responsive.