With the Society

THE SOCIETY OF FIRE PROTECTION ENGINEERS Joseph E. Johnson, President

Robert A. Pedersen, First Vice President Edward F. Tabisz, Second Vice President Richard E. Stevens, Secretary-Treasurer

ON T H E QUALITY

Recently the Society's Qualifications Board was taken to task editorially for rejecting an application for member- ship from a professional engineer. The editorial, in the New York Chapter 's Fire Mark , said the rejection was based on the opinion that the applicant lacked sufficient time in fire protection engineering on a full-time basis. I t questioned the decision because the applicant held a professional engineer's license in three states. Moreover, the applicant was working on an assign- ment demanding responsibility for re- vision of a section of a major city's building c o d e - - a section involving many facets of fire protection.

Further, the editorial lamented re- jection of a professional engineer as one more road block in the path to licensing recognition for fire protection engineers. I t was argued: "An en- larged membership of professional engineers would importantly aid in general recognition. Eventually this will make it possible for other deserv- ing members (SFPE) to obtain a pro- fessional engineering license.

" I t would seem elementary pro- cedure to encourage Society member- ship of such licensed professional engineers that regularly assume re- sponsibilities in fire protection matters - - particularly where they demon-

OF Q U A L I F I C A T I O N S

strate an ability and willingness to advance the fire protection engineering profession."

Obviously, this honest criticism of what was felt to be a too sharply cut interpretation of membership qualifi- cations demanded response. I t came from Richard M. Patton, a member of the Qualifications Board for more than four years. Mr. Patton, in his reply, did not zero in on the particular inci- dent cited in the Fire Mark editorial, but directed his thoughts, sometimes ruefully, to the whole range of prob- lems the Qualifications Board faces in striving to be judicious in applying the yardstick of membership qualifications to the applications it must act on. Let Mr. Pat ton speak:

"When I was asked to serve on the Qualifications Board a little over four years ago, I was told that if I accepted the assignment I would become a member of the hardest working, most maligned group in the Society. I now have the experience to verify that at least the second part of this analysis of the situation is correct. Having suffered the slings and arrows for over four years now, I feel justified in mak- ing a few comments of my own in reply to the recent editorial in the Fire Mark .

"A high percentage of our applicants

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have engineering degrees (many are licensed professional engineers) and have a background in the fire protection branch of engineering. These men are processed with dispatch. We do not have time to waste on them.

"Sometimes we receive applications from individuals who are, without doubt, qualified engineers, but their educational background is in another branch of e n g i n e e r i n g - say electrical engineering. They may suddenly have an opportunity to improve themselves if they can establish that they are fire protection engineers.

"Just because a man is an engineer does not mean that he is qualified to practice fire protection engineering. He should know something about fire protection first. I f I saw an opening for a designer of an electric generator station and then decide to join the Insti tute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and then apply for the job, I suspect that the I E E E would want me to demonstrate that I know some- thing about electrical engineering be- fore welcoming me as a member.

"But the fellow we spend most of our time on is the one with high school "trig" and chemistry, Navy certificates in gunnery and navigation, a trade school course in radio, two courses in industrial safety, a course in piccolo playing (think I 'm kidding?), 10 years of work as a fire inspector, and five letters from Society members strongly urging his approval. Hours are spent trying to decipher transcripts of par- tially completed courses and endeavor- ing to judge the engineering value of technical school courses or certificates from non-credited schools (some of which are no longer in existence), and other similar chores. All this is done in the interest of trying to discover some reasonable degree of technical training in the background of the applicant upon which we might be able to base a favorable decision. Of course, we have

Fire Technology also prepared tests for those who have no formal technical training, but who we believe are qualified b y virtue of their experience.

"No doubt, our biggest problem is that many well-known organizations maintaining engineering departments will not pay the salary t h a t a graduate engineer can demand. These organiza- tions staff their 'engineering' depart- ments by hiring men with whatever degree of technical training that they can get for the salary range offered. They teach these men to interpret the rule books, and after a few weeks of training, send them out with the title of 'engineer.' Of course, these organi- zations eventually look to the Society to confirm that their men are engineers. Some of these men come to us after having worked many years in fire pro- tection without bothering to take a single course in engineering funda- mentals. They resent suggestions that they take a test. They line up support of important members of the Society and try to pressure us into accepting them.

"The most discouraging thing to me is that so many of otu- members will, when a friend is involved or when it is expedient for business purposes, actively support the membership of persons who most clearly do not meet any of the requirements for member- ship. If Simple Simon wanted to get in, I am sure he would have no trouble getting references from some of our colleagues.

"Another problem is t ha t we must base our decisions on information sub- mitted to us. We usually do not know the individual firsthand. This means that if a qualified man fails to provide needed information on the form sub- mitted, we may falsely come to the conclusion that he is no t qualified. Sometimes we go back 2 or 3 times to get information without much luck. Some persons just will not be bothered

W i t h t h e S o c i e t y

wi th filling in t he form. Others seem to feel t h a t i t is a g rea t honor to the Soc ie ty t h a t the i r names have been tendered , and if the Soc ie ty does no t i m m e d i a t e l y j u m p a t the chance a t hav ing t h e m as members , well then , i t ' s j u s t too b a d for the Socie ty . Whi le we in the Qual i f ica t ions Boa rd do no t w a n t to d iscourage member sh ip th rough paperwork , the re is a m i n i m u m a m o u n t of i n fo rma t ion t h a t we j u s t have to have in o rder to make a favorab le de- cision.

" F i r e p ro t ec t i on is a b ranch of engi- neer ing which, to da t e a t least , has employed the use of technica l s t and- a rds to a ve ry grea t degree (presum- ab ly the s t a n d a r d s are based on sound engineer ing j u d g m e n t and experience). A n y r easonab ly in te l l igent person with a good m e m o r y and having comple ted a t leas t 6 to 8 yea r s of school can learn to use t he s t andards .

"On the Qual i f icat ions Board we have no sure way to sepa ra t e the rule- book reade r s f rom the engineers. How- ever, we do general ly bel ieve t h a t if a m a n ' s educa t iona l backg round is com- p le te ly devoid of engineering funda- menta ls , i t is p robab le t h a t th is m a n will no t progress beyond the inspec tor

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or the ru le -book reade r ca tegory . I f a m a n does have some t r a in ing in engi- neer ing fundamen ta l s , t he re is st i l l no guaran tee t h a t he will no t dec ide t h a t r ead ing rules is easier t h a n th ink ing . Never theless , we m u s t a s sume t h a t the m a n who does have some fo rmal edu- ca t ion will p rac t ice engineer ing.

" W h e n our Soc ie ty certifies t h a t a m a n is a qualif ied fire p ro t ec t i on engi- neer by accept ing h im as a member , we are in effect cer t i fy ing to t h e pub l i c t h a t th is man has the engineer ing knowledge and t r a in ing to enab le h im to design and ins ta l l sys t ems assoc ia ted wi th publ ic sa fe ty or make o the r de- cisions t h a t have a bear ing on life safety . He may , wi th our blessings, t ake on the respons ib i l i ty for fire sa fe ty a t a hospi ta l , a school, or a ship a t sea. M e m b e r s h i p in our Soc ie ty should no t be e qua t e d wi th jo in ing a c oun t ry club.

"These are a few of the p r o b l e m s we have. So, th ree t imes each yea r we (The Qual i f icat ions Board) s i t down and do the bes t we can, secure in the knowledge t h a t if we p u t ded i ca t i on to the ideals of fire p ro t ec t ion engineer ing above the in te res t s of pol i t ics and fr iendships , t hen once aga in we will be in t roub le . "