FITA Launches Industry Accreditation at Harrogate Floor Show

Introducing the FITA QA Card. A quality accreditation for UK commercial floor fitters. The card will be launched at The Harrogate Flooring Show at 11:30 on Sunday 4th September in Hall B.

Many professional trades are covered by industry standards to ensure that work is completed safely and to a high standard. For gas fitters there is the Gas Safe register and for electricians there is the NICEIC. FITA has joined together with leading suppliers to develop the commercial flooring industry equivalent. The FITA - QA Card.

The accreditation is designed to:

• Provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for fitters
• Provide an Independent industry accreditation for fitters
• Provide reassurance to the client
• Keep floor fitters up to date with industry developments

Clients demand that professionals are both qualified and then assessed on a regular basis to keep the level of their skills high. The FITA QA card goes beyond NVQ and CSCS cards to contribute towards CPD. Working in commercial environments is demanding and conditions are often less than perfect, keeping up to date with new techniques, materials and tools is imperative.

How will FITA deliver the accreditation?

The FITA QA card has been broken down in to a series of modules to ensure that specific competencies can easily be measured and assessed. There are both practical and theoretical parts to each module to ensure thorough high quality assessment. There are one day assessments in the following subjects:

• Subfloor Preparation*
• Vinyl Tile
• Carpet Tile
• Resilient Sheet
• Adhered Carpet
• Floating Timber

*FITA recommends that all fitters complete the subfloor preparation module.

On successfully completing the assessment the QA Card will be issued, (point to banner) highlighting which modules have been passed. This not only provides a quick check (on site if required) for any Contractor or Client wanting to identify a FITA assessed installer, but also an important addition to any fitters CV and a unique selling point (USP) for businesses that employ them

The FITA website will give access to details of contractors that use QA fitters and also importantly has the facility to check the validity of fitters who hold the QA Card. As with the M&S programme, it will come as no surprise that the CFA would always recommend that any company approached through this scheme not only use FITA accredited installers, but also CFA members.

Following the launch at Harrogate, further details of the assessments modules, dates, prices etc will be released through this website, CFJ and other marketing items.

If you would like to be kept up date, please send an email to info@fita.co.uk

30-08-2011