The chemical industry and pharmaceutical companies are a significant industrial asset for Italy. Italy is the third largest chemical producer in Europe, with a market share close to 10%. In fact, the data show a continuous increase in pharmaceutical production. In particular, thanks to exports and the growth of investments over the last five years, Italy is consistently above the European average. Not to mention the high-quality supply chain that depends on these sectors and the wide variety of target markets.
The strategic importance of know-how, the domestic market, exports, employment – and we must not overlook “health and safety” – makes it of primary importance to protect production sites from the many risks that threaten their safety; among these, one of the main ones is undoubtedly fire.
With over 50 years of experience in the sector, Natale Mozzanica, CEO of Mozzanica, delves into some fundamental issues for fire safety in chemical and pharmaceutical plants in this interview.
Why is it so complex to make fire protection systems for the chemical and pharmaceutical sectors?
Several factors. Fire protection plays a crucial role in ensuring business continuity. Our clients ask us to create systems that not only prevent or extinguish fires at their inception but also limit their spread and facilitate rapid recovery operations, as companies need to be – using a term that's become quite popular recently – resilient. Numerous chemical and pharmaceutical companies fall under the so-called “Seveso Directive”, i.e. companies at risk of major accidents. They must, therefore, put sophisticated risk assessment techniques into practice.
Mozzanica guarantees fire safety for numerous high-risk sites, and we have been working with leading Italian and international groups for over 30 years, providing maintenance, design, and implementation of fire protection systems in compliance with UNI, NFPA, and FM standards. One piece of news that makes us particularly proud is that one of the Italian sites protected by our systems, located in nearby Brianza, produced vaccines against COVID-19.
How different are installing industrial fire protection systems and doing so in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector?
The processes and materials used in the chemical and pharmaceutical sector, as mentioned, can present unique fire risks. Our clients entrust us with defining the tolerable fire load—i.e., the types and quantities of materials that can be present in an area based on the capability of the fire protection systems to extinguish a fire, relative to the expected fire scenario.
Clearly, we need to be part chemists, because we must know how materials behave; part engineers, to be able to design efficient systems; part architects, to integrate these systems into buildings; and part psychologists, anticipating how people will react to fire and smoke, ensuring a safe evacuation plan.
Additionally, compared to other industries, these sectors are highly dynamic in terms of production volumes and technological innovation, which means that plant layouts can change relatively frequently. The fire protection strategy must take these changes into account.
And this requires you to adapt the fire protection systems accordingly.
That's right. It means building work sites in the middle of active production lines.
Just imagine the potential interference between our activities and those of the client.
Therefore, it’s not enough to be skilled in realizing fire protection systems; you must also be fast, trained to operate in complex environments, and equipped to provide temporary solutions because while the system is under maintenance or modification, the fire safety level cannot be lowered.
All these factors increase the complexity of our work.
So, in the fire protection field, are there strict specializations between those who handle certain sectors and those who handle others?
This is partly true; there are simpler applications where less complex technologies, techniques, and organizational systems can be applied. Then there are contexts with stricter requirements, both regarding the expertise of the designers and in our field, the installation of systems. Besides the resources in terms of manpower and equipment that each company can deploy to meet demands for speed and complexity of work, as we mentioned earlier, we face requests where we must showcase our technological capabilities. These systems are the domain of a select pool of companies in the Italian market, regardless of the turnover they generate.
You mean being small is advantageous?
Mozzanica reached a size over a decade ago that has allowed us to tackle highly complex projects while still maintaining short chains of command. We can grow further – and that’s what we are doing – while keeping this competitive edge. However, as a company, we have decided to maintain a lean organization. We believe this will continue to be a competitive advantage for a long time.
To do this, we have invested in training, innovation and networking.
“Mozzanica's pre-engineered solutions allow for reduced construction time and can be easily relocated and and reconnected in case of plant modernization.”
Training and innovation: can you explain your approach to these topics?
For us, technological innovation means engineering solutions. An example can clarify this. As mentioned, the chemical and pharmaceutical sector frequently updates their plants. We have developed pre-engineered solutions, such as valve houses or pumping stations in containers at our workshop that have not only made it possible to reduce construction time at the customer's site, but, in the event of future plant upgrades, to be easily moved and reconnected to the plant. But technology alone is not enough.
The speed of implementation, for example, also depends on how quickly you can make a decision.
Attention to detail requires high-quality personnel, not just a large number of employees. In fact, this is about tackling both an engineering and an organizational challenge simultaneously, and you can't do that relying solely on “brute force”. That's why we invest thousands of hours a year in staff training. Today, if you come to visit us at our new headquarters, the first area you encounter after reception is a 50-seat training room. It is no coincidence that it was placed at the entrance of the company, because for us, training is the start of our business journey. We are proud to train young people in their first work experience after completing school.
The question of networking remains...
This is also manifested in our headquarters. You can find numerous meeting spaces equipped with advanced teleconferencing systems and digital signage, which proved essential during the lockdown.
We work closely with major engineering firms in the chemical and pharmaceutical fields, collaborating intensively from the design phases to implementation and maintenance. We need to maintain a continuous exchange of information.
And this isn’t something that can be improvised: relationships and mutual respect are built over the years. In our case, they are the result of more than thirty years of experience.
Mozzanica & Mozzanica was founded in 1986 as a company specializing in the supply and maintenance of first-response fire equipment. Shortly thereafter, we began what is now our real core business: the design, implementation, and maintenance of fixed fire detection and extinguishing systems. This extensive experience allows us to speak the same language as our corporate counterparts.
SMEs play a significant role in the entire European chemical industry, but even more so in Italy, where they account for 39% of the production value. This is more than the national mid-large groups and foreign-owned companies, which represent 23% and 38% of the total, respectively.
Doesn't the business model described above, suitable for an industrial enterprise, actually exclude SMEs?
Quite the contrary. Today, with the new fire code allowing us to move beyond a merely prescriptive approach, our extensive experience enables us to collaborate with designers, helping them find system solutions that optimize construction time and resources while ensuring the required performance. This is particularly appreciated in smaller companies that face high fire and explosion hazards. The “fire safety dimension” isn't measured by the number of employees or revenue but by risk. An SME with a high or complex fire risk, perhaps even more than a large industry that can have in-house HSE expertise, needs a partner capable of ensuring high-quality standards. We started as a small business and understand their needs well. Throughout our journey to become structured for addressing complex requests, we have not forgotten our origins. We have created a department, which we call Small Jobs, capable of responding quickly to smaller-scale interventions, ensuring the same quality levels required by large industries.
This is demonstrated by the fact that even large multinational corporations commission small jobs for specific, less complex situations.
You mentioned moving beyond the prescriptive approach. I assume you're referring to the new fire prevention code.
Since 2011, our sector has undergone a regulatory revolution, beginning with a redefinition of authorization procedures based on proportionality and culminating in the new code. We rarely, if ever, find ourselves designing systems for activities covered by a specific technical standard.
In such cases, potential deviations from standards open up space for creativity and innovation by designers, but they also present the installer with technical challenges that require significant experience, expertise, and technical skills to address.
So, a fire protection system installer and maintenance provider isn’t just the executor of a project.
Of course not; we must navigate the relevant regulatory framework, which I can assure you is not always easy. Today's regulatory context is complex, and we often have to consider the combined provisions of various requirements. There are vertical rules, which apply to specific regulated activities, and these intersect with horizontal technical rules, which apply to various activities (such as the norms applicable to the sector). In addition, national regulations overlap with European legislation, and recognized standards are layered on top of these.
Do you mean standards like UNI, NFPA, etc.?
Exactly; building a system “by the book” means adhering to the mandatory regulations, and where these allow room for interpretation, following recognized good practices in the industry. Sometimes these practices are referenced by the regulations, making them mandatory, but often they are design choices. Standards can originate from institutions, like UNI standards, or be issued by private but recognized organizations, such as the NFPA, or by insurance companies, like FM Global, to name the main ones.
We, who design, build, and maintain systems in compliance with all these standards, must know how to appropriately harmonize them.
So far, we have talked about the construction of new systems but an important part of your activities concerns maintenance.
What does maintenance mean today?
You said it right. Maintenance is one of the pillars on which Mozzanica is built.
About a third of our revenue comes from service activities.
This is also the “secret” to our customer loyalty. We have clients who have been relying on our service for thirty years; this is something we are very proud of.
Once you have built a system, you are only halfway there. Routine maintenance is a fundamental activity.
Maintaining a fire protection system built “by the book” over time means guaranteeing the client, the certifier, and the control body that the system is always operational and functional, i.e., it continues to perform the functions for which it was built and therefore adapts to any changed conditions of the activity it protects, and of course, that it is efficient. Maintaining systems on which safety depends also means having a global vision of the maintained system and the activity it protects.
There is so much information to systematize that a specific “framework” is needed to interpret it. In particular, the increasingly prominent role of electronics and IoT in a traditionally conservative sector like fire protection is transforming the role of the maintenance technician, who is becoming an integral member of a diverse and complementary team of specialists.
The evolution of systems – and diagnostic methods – is increasingly shifting the focus towards predictive maintenance. This paradigm shift doesn't catch our sector unprepared, given that the concept of prevention is its guiding star, but how is this concretely changing the way of working?
Paradoxically, it makes the maintenance technician's intervention appear less and less evident. A fire protection system is an asset whose effectiveness, fortunately, is rarely or never experienced unless a fire breaks out.
Now that systems can be monitored remotely, faults can be anticipated more and more, to the point where it may seem that the systems are “naturally” efficient. However, this makes it harder for the customer to grasp the perceived value of the service. This goes against the trend of the investments that a company like ours must make.
Investments in technology, you mean?
Not only that, perhaps not primarily. The scarce resources are the skills. Finding a qualified fire protection maintenance technician is difficult; unfortunately, there isn't a standardized institutional training path. It takes more than 24 months of shadowing before a technician starts working independently.
The preparation of a maintenance technician is an ongoing and costly investment.
Every technician, both in the classroom and in the field, must delve into technical standards, understand the fire protection systems they work on, and their interfaces with the surrounding environment: from activation and safety protocols to operational limits and interactions with other systems (fire-related and otherwise). Only in this way can we guarantee the functionality we were talking about before.
However, knowing the theory is not enough; the procedures contained in the technical standards are not always exhaustive of the work to be performed and often only indicate the minimum operations that need to be carried out.
A maintenance technician must know how to interpret the scenario they encounter.
By maintenance technician, I mean both the individual physically on the field and the specialized maintenance company. The former must have the sensitivity and competence to detect all the information that doesn’t always come through official channels, which sometimes even the client is unaware of—what quality management systems call the client's “implicit needs.” The latter must have the procedures and tools to keep an enormous number of aspects under control.
So how do you recognize a good maintenance technician?
The operational specifications and verification checklists are the qualifying elements that distinguish the work of a specialized maintenance company.
These documents encapsulate the knowledge of fire protection systems and accumulated experience. Checklists that can break down the minimum operations required by the standards into highly detailed actions enable both the client and the certifier to document the work carried out. And then there's the technical equipment; for example, we have chosen to perform as many maintenance operations as possible on-site using “mobile workshops”. At the same time, we have in-house facilities, including a lab for electrical maintenance and another for self-contained breathing apparatus maintenance.
So, does the quality of service come from what's recorded in the documentation?
Not only from what's recorded, but also from how the records are made.
Nowadays, a computerized service management system is a crucial prerequisite for handling complexity. Additionally, we have developed the Tag-it system, which allows us to tag every component subject to maintenance.
This allows us, for example, to access – through a QR code – all the documentation, diagrams, data sheets, and instruction manuals directly in the field, making everything easily accessible and always at hand.
So this way of working protects both the client and the certifier?
Absolutely. At the end of each visit, they can access timely and detailed documentation on our platform, with multilevel access control.
But that's just the first step. Mozzanica continues to invest in staying up-to-date with current regulations.
In particular, UNI 9795:2013 requires that those who install unsupervised fire detection systems must have a transmission system in place that sends fire alarms, faults, and out-of-service notifications to one or more operations centers that are always active. Soon, customers will be able to benefit from 24-hour surveillance from our certified operations center, offering a service that is fully integrated with our comprehensive fire protection services.
And I imagine that all this data is also useful for certification bodies.
You've hit the nail on the head. As I often say, quoting John Ruskin, “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort.”
Our “intelligent effort” has led us to have our company's management system certified according to the UNI EN ISO 9001 standard for all company processes, and since 2020, also according to the ISO 45001 standard, the benchmark for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. Alongside these management systems, the company holds international competency certifications (especially for the Marine sector, where our subsidiary Mozzanica USA is particularly active), and certifications for fire extinguisher and hydrant maintenance services, adhering to the voluntary “ICIM Certified Maintenance” project, promoted by UMAN, the Confindustria trade association, of which Mozzanica is a member.
This last certification framework you mentioned also addresses environmental responsibility, correct?
Exactly. It covers both verifying proper maintenance and the correct disposal of resulting materials. Among the various aspects subject to third-party audits is the proper management of waste generated by maintenance services, ensuring it is recorded in specific registers and disposed of according to current regulations. On the environmental front, we also hold certification for the maintenance of fire suppression systems using fluorinated gases (F-GAS), and our technical staff qualified to work on these systems are certified and listed in the ICIM Certified Professionals Register for these activities.
So you not only have company certifications but also certifications for your staff's competence...
As I mentioned earlier, training and expertise are crucial for us, but for certain activities, it's not just a company priority; it's a legal requirement. Specifically, the UNI 9994-2 and UNI 11473-3 standards have established the mandatory qualifications that maintenance technicians must have to legally operate on fire extinguishers, fire doors, and hydrant networks.
That's quite a certification effort.
It is a must if you want to operate in such a complex market and protect your professionalism.
Being able to guarantee such a high level of quality to the market is already a key differentiator. Unfortunately, there are no public registers or directories in the fire protection field that ensure market access based on competencies.
Mozzanica, which holds qualifications and certifications for working even on third-party systems, as well as certifications and approvals for products, systems, and sectors such as CEI and UNI, CENELEC and CEN, IEC and ISO, NFPA, RINA, TAPA, ISPS, and FM, invests several thousand euros each year just to maintain company and competency certifications.