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 respected and well established primary authority provider, BFFF has been approached by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and Office for Product and Safety Standards (OPSS) to take part in a government initiative to help develop and digitalise primary authority.

Simon Brentnall (Head of Health & Safety) at the federation states;

‘It’s an honour to be asked to be involved in further development of the primary authority scheme. You could call primary authority a hidden gem however, at first glance people just don’t get it until you see the scheme working in practice.

The benefits include, having advice that has legal standing and cannot be overturned, getting advice from the enforcing authorities directly and being on the primary authority register.

The scheme also has many financial benefits, I remember one company having 85 fire extinguishers around the warehouse when in fact the primary authority for fire stated 35 would be more than adequate’

In summary, the following key areas make it essential for companies to join the BFFF scheme:

• 30 pieces of industry assured guidance available on crucial topics such as Health & Safety, Fire Safety, Food Safety, Food Hygiene & Labelling just to name a few,
• Free industry level advice to our members which would normally cost between £65-75/hour,
• Member sign up to the primary authority register, this meaning no other authority can visit a company with first looking on the register and contacting the single registered authority.

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