The forced cleanup that worked – The cleanup of the fire service industry

Our second article in our taboo discussion series, we discuss how there has been a tremendous change to the capabilities and services provided by fire services contractors after being forced to “up their game” since 2019.

The gap between fire services contractors is not so wide anymore. Talking to the leading players in the fire services industry; they welcome this change and relish the competition. As a result of this equilibrium for fee proposals, the top players are finding themselves competing on a more level playing field.

So what are we expecting now we are experiencing a more level playing field?
From Grays Rescue’s perspective, the cream rises to the top and there is a butterfly effect. Now that balance is being restored; our leaders in fire services have an opportunity to move forward and look at what needs scrutinising; to find better ways to expand their leadership deliverables instead of dumbing them down just to compete with the under cutters.

There are so many avenues for higher deliverables in the services space.

As a defect facilitator, I would like to start with a mandatory panel of the industries finest fire services contractors performing 3rd party auditing of new builds before issuing occupational certification. I would also like to see the fire services companies doing the audits and not the introduced fire services contractor for the first AFSS cycle.

With the level of expectations entering a new phase, this is an area where we do need to look at what the NSW Fair Trading Office.

Let’s not forget the Fire Protection Association, the building commissioner’s office and, by extension, what David Chandler OAM has achieved in this space. It has been a well orchestrated change to the industry. Step into the defect facilitation world and you will see the changes pretty quickly for what fire service providers will now pull up on a new build.

These changes to the industry will only remain if the strata and building management industry recognise and support them. The promotion of the cheapest quote needs to be considered for what this does to the industry and Grays Rescue feel it is largely why the fire service industry slumped in the first place.

I challenge Strata Management and Building Management companies to educate owners corporations to understand why they should be supporting our fire service industry’s finest; after all, these are the people in the industry that continue to champion the way forward for a better-regulated industry. They can’t do it without owners corporations backing them; it’s our job to educate our owners corporations.

Author
Chris Gray