Organisational Capability
Every business has a legal responsibility to ensure reasonably foreseeable business risks can be effectively managed and addressed. The Construction Design and Management Regulations and now the new Building Regulations build on the concept of duty holders. Duty Holders must be able to demonstrate individual competence and organisational capability.
Risk and Quality Management sit at the core of any demonstration of organisational capability. FIS has been working with our community to address the issues of providing clear digital evidence of compliance and competence through an initiative called the FIS Quality Framework: Product Process People (PPP).
Demonstrating Organisational Capability
Organisational Capability and Individual Competence are now enshrined in the Building Regulations Revisions by The Competence General Requirement, which states:
Any person carrying out any building work as a contractor or any design work as a designer must have:
(a) where the person is an individual, the skills, knowledge, experience and behaviours necessary,
(b) where the person is not an individual, the organisational capability,
to fulfil the duties of a contractor or designer, as the case may be, under these Regulations in relation to the work
Guidance from the Regulator states that organisations must show they have the required capability by having policies, procedures, systems and resources in place for their employees to follow relevant regulations. The Regulator suggests that “you can use the principles in Managing for Health and Safety to help understand if organisations you appoint have the capability to manage the safety of your building”.
FIS has been working with its members to improve process and create a clear digital evidence of compliance and competence through an initiative called the FIS Quality Framework: Product Process People (PPP). This is a framework to evidence compliance by interrogating product selection, presenting reports and using product delivery notes, supervision processes and site images to demonstrate correct installation.
Product: Keep records of the specification, test evidence, purchase orders and delivery notes
Process: Keep accurate sign off information to include dated site images of the installation, especially performance critical elements that will be covered up in the final build.
People: Record of competence for all involved in the installation of the interior system using records from their CSCS cards and their relevant qualifications and training.
The FIS Integrated Management System draws on Managing for Health and Safety and provides a starter for helping you to align your processes and suppport evidencing compliance and business improvement.
Register for the new FIS Building Safety Act Training Course
FIS has developed an online training course to support members in understanding compliance with the Building Safety Act. The course has been designed to be user-friendly guiding members through the process of compliance as it relates to working in the finishes and interiors sector.
FIS Integrated Management Standard
The FIS Integrated Management Standard (IMS) was developed to help members implement tried and proven methods of streamlining their company for the benefit of their business and its stakeholders. This IMS helps sets the parameters for FIS members to manage their internal controls to ensure that . It provides a framework for implementing risk management systems that will help organisations to meet statutory and legislative requirements as a minimum.

FIS Product, Process, People (PPP) Risk Management Tool
This tool has been created to help members embrace the thinking behind this quality framework and to encourage a culture of scrutinising risk in a structured way at the outset of a project. FIS will be reviewing this tool on a regular basis as a way of supporting members in unpicking the impact of the Grenfell Review process on their business. Members can download the FIS Product, Process, People Risk Management Tool via the link below.

FIS Best Practice Guidance
FIS is built on the collective wisdom of the community, which it harnesses in an extensive library of publications and guidance notes that support specifiers, end users, designers, suppliers and contractors involved in the Finishes and Interiors Sector. Best Practice Guides and Site Guides feature top tips, key challenges and detailed checklists that can support compliance and quality management systems.

Access to British Standards
Standards support compliance and are often referenced in Regulation and as part of a Specification to support. At FIS we strive to make the key standards free to our community via the FIS Standards Portal. It is important moving forwards that we have a robust standard setting body, but the cost to access and use the standards is not prohibitive, particularly for SME’s.

FIS Campaign: Empowering the Responsible No
As FIS have explored the competence and capability with our community, the importance of deploying “No” has been repeatedly raised. Ultimately competence and capability require you to know your limits and ensure that all reasonably foreseeable business risks can be effectively managed and addressed.
If we don’t clarify, qualify and draw the line we take responsibility for issues outside of our control, assume responsibility for compliance and sign up to damages and delays that we can’t cover.
The FIS is focussed on Empowering the Responsble No and has launched a campaign to support this. Within this campaign we also focus on the waste created by multiple Prequalification Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) frameworks and the need to adopt the Common Assessment Standard.

FIS Business Risk Management Tool
FIS has produced a Business Risk Management Tool to support contractors and help them adopt a structured approach to understanding risk and reducing uncertainty. The tool identifies over 120 common risk areas for contractors against the categories including Business Management, Contractual, Financial, Quality, H&S and Procurement, providing a mechanism to score and rank risk and advice on mitigation and management.
A risk management matrix ranks risk in term of probability of an event occurring and the severity of the impact should the event occur. It can be used to identify and prioritise activity so that a contractor can then make informed business decisions and improve their resilience.

FIS Competency Management Toolkit
FIS guidance sets down the requirements for creating a Competency Management Plan (CMP) for organisations working in the finishes and interiors sector. The Toolkit offers examples and signposts to available information and standards that support FIS Members in developing competence within their workforce, meeting the requirements of legislation and avoiding any enforcement penalties,

FIS Vetting – Accreditation and Membership
FIS accredited members can promote themselves to their clients as an FIS Accredited Member. Every accredited member is vetted on application and audited at regular intervals through our vetting process (which for contractors includes site visits). FIS membership helps you to demonstrate your organisational capability and can promote, not just that you have been audited, but that you are plugged into a compliance network. FIS membership highlights your company’s dedication to keeping up with industry trends and adopting the best practices that ultimately support compliance, safety and quality.
Supporting information from FIS
- FIS RACI Matrix – The RACI model is a straightforward tool used for identifying roles and responsibilities and avoiding confusion over those roles and responsibilities during a project.
- The FIS Digital Toolkit – has been developed to suppport the creation of a Golden Thread the Act also requires the creation of a Digital Information Management Plan.
- The FIS Legal and Contractual Toolkit – FIS members have access to a legal and contractual toolkit that includes a wealth of best practice guidance, a subsidised contract review service and specialist QS and legal helplines.
- The FIS Health and Safety Toolkit – FIS have an active Health and Safety Working Group that looks st core risks and challenges in the sector and provides tools and guidance to help members manage risk and keeep workers safe.
- Demonstrating Individual Competence – FIS has been working with the Regulator to develope a framework that helps our community define, manage and demonstrate competence.
- Dealing with non compliance issues – In the event that completed work has been identified as being non-compliant by a client, contractor or by a 3rd party specialist via a commissioned report, there are a number of steps that members should take which are somewhat universal to the type of construction and the nature of the complaint that should be followed.
- FIS Specifiers and Best Practice Guides – FIS produce a range of Specifier, Best Practice and Site Guides (including a new pre-construction guide to dry lining) to support the decisions in the sector and training for competency. To supplement this guidance FIS is working through our Working Groups and a new Walls as a System Group to challenge and identify and resolve any compliance issues that arise. FIS also helped to establish and continue to support the new Passive Fire Knowledge Group to help drive system thinking and a better supply chain approach to compliance
- The FIS Acoustic Verification Scheme – In a bid to curb growing incidents of ‘passing off’ FIS has teamed up with Cundall Acoustics to develop an acoustic test certificate verification scheme. The scheme takes test data and reports and runs a series of checks to verify information is accurate and genuine.
- FIS Drylining Quality Checklist – This quality check list for drylining has been produced by members of the FIS drylining working group to help members assess risk during the project and provide a detailed quality check list throughout the installation process.
- FIS Technical Hub – Fire Safety – A summary of all support available from the FIS related to delivering fire safety through the construction process.
- Product Process People White Paper May 2018 – the initial discussion document produced to set process in motion to develop the FIS PPP Framework.
Recommended Additional Information
- FIS overview of the Building Safety Act
- Dame Judith Hackitt’s final report, Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety
- Dame Judith Hackitt’s interim report: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety
- Setting the Bar – The second and final report of the Competence Steering Group [CSG] and is an update of its Interim Report, Raising the Bar, published in August 2019. The work was initiated by the recommendations in Dame Judith Hackitt’s review Building a Safer Future.
- Report on Edinburgh schools
- The acceptable tolerances or deviation for drylining and plastering are included within the workmanship clauses in a specification, but are they always standard or are enhanced tolerances being asked for as standard which can lead to disputes on site?
- BRE Report – assessment of FD30S fire doors installed for Stoke-on-Trent cit council redacted
- BRE Photographic survey of Fire doors for Stoke Feb 2013 Redacted
- Closing the Gap Between Design and As-Built Performance Evidence Review Report
- A Guide to Process Mapping
- Benchmarking
- Introduction to Procurement
- Lean Construction
- Partnering
- Quality Policy Statements
- Risk Management
- Supply Chain Management
- Value Management
- IT and Construction