Back in 2014, BFFF were the first trade association to take on the primary authority scheme, today, we still continue to protect our members from unwanted legal challenges and deliver crucial benefits through the scheme. More recently, as a respected and well established primary authority provider, BFFF was approached by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to take part in a government initiative to further develop and digitalise the scheme. It was a privilege to be involved in this review, however, this did come with a caveat as Simon Brentnall BFFF’s Head of Health & Safety explains;

‘In the meeting, we did stress the importance of digitalisation, we do need to bridge the generation gap and innovate, this could translate into the development of a Primary Authority app. More importantly, we also made it clear what a good primary authority partnership really looks like. We raised the point that BFFF’s success with the scheme was not down to digitalisation but down to developing relationships through conversation, by simply picking up the phone and having regular discussions.

The one piece of advice I would give to any company looking to take on primary authority would be to find a partner which is amenable, someone you can have regular open and honest dialogue with experience in your industry.

Over the years we have been lucky enough in finding the ideal partner who excel in this criteria. We use Wakefield Metropolitan District Council for Health & Safety, they are amenable and nothing is too much trouble with the added benefit of having knowledge of our industry.

In summary, let’s develop, let’s innovate but most importantly, let’s keep talking….

To find out more about the primary authority scheme, contact:simonbrentnall@bfff.co.uk