Siemens has demonstrated its commitment to assisting in the training of the fire engineers of the future with the supply of fire control panels to Banham Academy.
Banham Academy is the leading specialist training provider in the apprenticeship scheme for Level 3 Fire Emergency & Security Systems in England. Siemens engineers are amongst the Academy’s current 135 apprentices enrolled from 53 employers undertaking the apprenticeship.
Employers who are looking to enhance their workforce’s skills release their trainee engineers for 15 weeks over a three-year period to undertake coursework and training at Banham Academy’s educational training centres. Successful completion of the course sees an apprentice awarded an Electrotechnical Certifications (ECS) ID card, along with the letters ENG Tech TMIET after their name, providing them with invaluable credentials for their careers ahead. Furthermore, it provides employers with a competitive edge in the workforce by their employees officially being recognised and accredited by the IET as engineering technicians.
Central to the apprenticeship programme are practical sessions using the technologies that engineers will come across in their day-to-day work installing, commissioning and maintaining fire and security systems. Siemens has supplied two panels from its Cerberus FIT FC360 range of compact addressable fire control panels for use at Banham Academy’s two locations: the original site in London and the recently opened second training facility in Derby. Further panels will be supplied in the coming months to extend the availability of the panels to the apprentices.
Kevin Faulkner, Operations Director and Safeguarding Lead at Banham Academy, said “there still remains a skills gap so training continues to be a vital component in ensuring that we have a sustainable future for our industry. Commitment from the manufacturers is fundamental to that as it allows us to train the apprentices on the equipment they will be facing, enabling them to gain real-life experience and to become familiar with the developments in technology and how this is being applied in actual systems. Banham Academy are grateful to Siemens for their on-going support in enabling the next generation of engineers to train on the most relevant and highest quality systems to further enhance their learning.”
Rob Yates, Siemens Head of Building Products Fire Safety in the UK and Ireland, said “we recognise the importance of training, from the engineers who are installing the systems through to the customers who are ultimately using them. We have recently appointed a new trainer internally for our Cerberus PRO fire alarm system and this work with Banham Academy is an illustration of our commitment to external training providers too. Our Cerberus FIT FC360 systems are operating in a wide range of applications, from hotels and schools to shops and care homes. We offer guarantees against false alarms with our ASAtechnology™ detectors and that is only possible if our systems are being installed by engineers who really understand the technologies and how important it is to recognise the environment that the system is protecting.”
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