New York City Fire Department Certificate of Fitness

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) has developed fire prevention procedures and regulations for many different categories of specific areas that have a fire safety aspect:

• Working with hazardous materials;
• Using open flames as part of a process;
• Using equipment that operates at high pressures/vacuum;
• Performing official fire safety duties;
• Working directly with fire safety systems

Persons involved in any activities in these categories are required to have a working knowledge of FDNY regulations and fire-prevention measures. FDNY requires people directly involved in work activity categories listed above to obtain a Certificate of Fitness (C of F) from FDNY.

There are over 100 different Certificates of Fitness from FDNY, each one covering a specific fire safety milieu within the Rules of the City of New York (RCNY). Approximately twenty are represented at Lehman College. Since 2008, C of F regulations and study materials have been updated and expanded.

C of F holders may be required by FDNY on an individual basis, or a specific number of C of F holders per room/floor/building/campus/specified number of people; a C of F may be “portable”, and can be used by the C of F holder at any location, or it may be premises-specific. In addition, CUNY and/or Lehman College may have its own policies on the number of C of F holders who must be present.

FDNY determines whether the C of F is required; FDNY can shut down an operation if this requirement is not met. For certain departments and job titles (Public Safety, Boiler Plant Engineer, Auto Mechanic), multiple different Cs of F are required.

Below is a list of the most prevalent types of Certificates of Fitness on the Lehman College campus. For information on obtaining a Certificate of Fitness in your specific area, please click on the link(s) below. For Cs of F not listed below, please contact the Environmental Health & Safety Office for more information:

• C14: Supervision of Non-Production Chemical Laboratories
• F03/F04: Indoor Place of Assembly, Outdoor/Temporary Place of Assembly Safety Personnel (replaces F94: Fireguard for Places of Public Assembly and Fireguard for Film Studios)
• G60: Torch Use of Flammable Gases (replaces G38: Oxygen/Flammable Gas Torch)