Auditing
In January 2021, the Fire Protection Association Australia (FPA
Australia) commenced its first scheduled audit of accredited
practitioners, in accordance with the New South Wales Government
Requirements. FPA Australia has developed the Auditing and Compliance Policy
& Procedures to ensure transparency within this
space.
The Audit Plan for 2021 identified 10% of all Fire Safety
Assessment (FSA) and Fire System Design (FSD) practitioners who
were randomly selected, resulting in 121 practitioners for
audit in total. Each month 13 new
practitioners will be audited, until auditing for the year is
complete.
Practitioners are required to maintain detailed records about
their professional activities, and are provided with a link to
their own Dropbox
folder upon their audit commencing where they can upload any
requested documents.
For the purpose of recording practitioner's workplace activities
(WPA's), FPA Australia has developed two WPA Forms - one for FSA and one for FSD. While these
forms are not mandatory, they provide a strong foundation for
recordkeeping and cover the requirements for audit.
The auditing process follows some simple steps:
- Practitioners are advised they are under audit, requiring
five (5) business days to provide a summary of all
the work they've done (up to 100 jobs) since becoming
accredited.
- FPA Australia advises the practitioner which jobs will require
further audit, requiring ten (10) business days to
provide any relevant reports, documents, diagrams and evidence that
substantiate the practitioner's assessment.
As a part of this process, between 5 and 10 jobs
will be assessed, covering as broad a range of the practitioner's
accreditation as possible.
FPA Australia reserves the right to ask for materials or
information not described above as part of the audit process, if
required. If FPA Australia seeks more information or documentation,
they will advise the practitioner accordingly.
For further information regarding auditing policy, please refer
to the FPA
Australia Auditing and Compliance Policy and
Procedures.