The centre was founded in 1951 as a special organisation of the Austrian Fire Brigade Association (under direct control of the Executive Committee).
Its executive office is located in Vienna. Eight branch offices are located in the federal states. Tests are carried out throughout Austria by around 55 inspectors, who are generally either active professional fire officers or leading officers at the state fire brigade academies.
One of the first in Austria, the Inspection Centre for Fire Protection Technology sought accreditation as an inspection and monitoring centre according to the 1992 Austrian Accreditation Law and EN 45000 in May 1993; after an audit in March 1996, it was accredited for tests and inspections by decree of the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs. The most recent accreditation according to EN ISO/IEC 17020 and 17025 can be found at the centre’s homepage.
Around 4000 inspections are made annually, 90% of which concern fire alarm systems, such as sprinkler systems, gas extinguisher systems and fire smoke ventilation systems. Type tests of centralized fire alarm systems, gas extinguisher systems and oxygen reduction systems are also conducted.
In the past few years the inspection centre has also been commissioned to create fire protection concepts for large properties as well as federal buildings. Other services it provides include the monitoring of fire safety construction as well as the development of fire safety plans.
With the Inspection Centre for Fire Protection Technology, the Austrian Fire Brigade Association has succeeded in creating a firefighting test centre that is one of its kind in Europe and envied by many countries.
