Our brand new, award-winning FRAEW app uses logic-based code to ensure engineers or surveyors accurately describe conditions found at a building and arrives at the correct rating as described in PAS 9980. The app is used to workup a consistent, competent, high quality FRAEW report for clients.
Category:
Resources
Author:
Joe Taylor
We’ve always sought to find better ways of working and we believe that happens through better use of technology. And we’ve made something special that has won CABE’s new technology award for 2024…
A big motivation behind the creation of the FRAEW app was the urgent need for a better, quicker way to issue FRAEWs for clients. Right now, thousands of UK building owners, residents, and leaseholders are having to wait in a long queue to have an FRAEW report carried out on their property. This backlog is huge and a major concern for our industry. We’re excited to have created something that will support clients and help reduce these waiting times. Using our app, we expect a 2-week report to be fully completed - from scratch – in just a few days.
Until now, engineers and surveyors have gathered information from a building hoping to have collected all they need so a qualified professional can carry out a subsequent report on these findings. Often, information can be missed or mislaid. Time is also required to gather and collate the extensive detail needed for a high quality report. With our FRAEW app, through clever prompting and a great deal of technical back-end programming, we’re able to quickly guide the app user to gather all information needed to create a comprehensive report that conforms to PAS 9980.
We also save time in report drafting, with information auto-populating the report as the engineer works. Every piece of imputed data prompts a corresponding response to ensure the report is thorough, competent, consistent and robust. No stone is left unturned.
Well-produced FRAEWs are, in many ways, the most technical aspect of the modern fire engineer’s work. They require in-depth technical knowledge, critical thinking and an ability to understand fire safety holistically ‘in the real world’. So it was essential we ensured the info gathering in our app development was extensive and exhaustively considered; our app developers, fire engineers Kieran and Sam, went through several quality stages of close collaboration with directors to ensure all reportable scenarios were explored. Quality improvements to our app will mean any engineers drafting an FRAEW report using the app will benefit from knowledge grounded in detailed research and more than 80 years’ experience from PartB’s directors and Chartered Engineers. We also implement an integrated management system in all our process at PartB: quality (ISO 9001), health & safety (ISO 45001) and environmental (ISO 14001).
Our app does not replace judgement, expertise, or the role of the fire engineer’s expert opinion, but provides author’s with a robust framework in which to report their findings and judgements, reach reasonable conclusions, and create a high quality report – all in a significantly shorter period of time.
It’s no secret the construction sector and fire engineering have suffered a competency crisis in recent years, and with these quality improvements, our FRAEW app will produce a more accurate, consistent report with sensible and safe recommendations. And at a greater speed.
We’re pleased to continue to look for improved, accountable working practices and a fresh way of thinking in how we do our job. Applying technology to improve outcomes for our customers has always been at the heart of what we do and we’re proud to see our FRAEW app win the CABE Built Environment New Technology of the Year for 2024.
We will have more to share on our app soon - how it works and how it will be made available – so keep checking back on our website.
