Although great strides have been made in reducing the negative impacts of fire over the past few decades, the global impact of fire remains staggering. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates global burn deaths to 180,000 annually, the vast majority of these in low and middle-income countries. Within Europe, more than 3,500 people are killed annually. In most developed countries the cost of fire damage is estimated to be at least 1% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Something must be done to facilitate substantial reduction in these losses and significantly increase societal health, safety, and welfare. To better characterize the problems and develop solutions, fire safety science and engineering research needs to be integrated into societally-transformative risk mitigation and resiliency initiatives. An holistic, society-focused Fire Safety Mission is needed.
In June of this year, the European Commission published the outline for “Horizon Europe”, the research & innovation programme which will follow Horizon 2020, with a proposed budget of around 100 billion € for 2021-2028. The published text makes no mention of fire safety. The proposed structure will build on Thematic “pillars” and horizontal “missions”. The definition of a “Fire Safety Mission” is particularly suitable for the inclusion of fire safety in Horizon Europe, as fire safety is truly horizontal in nature, cutting across a broad variety of potential themes.
The International Association of Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) recently launched a position paper calling for action concerning fire research and engineering needs for the future, The IAFSS Agenda 2030 for a Fire Safe World. Using the IAFSS Agenda 2030 as a starting point for dialogue, the IAFSS and ISO TC92 would like to invite all fire safety stakeholders to a workshop to define a Fire Safety Mission for Europe.
The meeting will be hosted in the CEN/CENELEC buildings in central Brussels so space is limited. This event is for registered participants only. Registration is free, but the organizers reserve the right to charge a no-show fee for registration without participation. The tentative workshop agenda is below.
Workshop Agenda, 10:00-16:00, Monday, 3rd December 2018
09.00 – 10.00 Registration
WHERE WE ARE COMING FROM?
10.00-10.10 Welcome and Introductions (Margaret McNamee, LTH)
10.10-10.20 Why fire safety is important in tomorrow’s world (Patrick van Hees, LTH, Chair IAFSS and ISO TC92)
10.20-10.40 Lessons Learned from Fire Research in H2020, the example of wildfire research (DG RTD, Nicolas Faivre)
WHERE ARE WE HEADED?
10.40-11.00 Fire Information Exchange Platform (DG GROW, Georgios Katsarakis)
11.00-11.20 What do we mean by Missions in Horizon Europe? (DG RTD, Neville Reeve)
11.20-11.40 Coffee
WHY A FIRE SAFETY MISSION – STAKEHOLDER PERSPECTIVES?
Funding Agency: “Brandforsk – fostering safety through dedicated research funding”, Björn Sundström, Chairman of the Board, Brandforsk
Fire Fighter: Pieter Maes, Brussels Fire Department
Fire Engineer: Brian Meacham, President-Elect, Society of Fire Protection Engineers, SFPE
Academia: “Fire Science: funding of research for citizen safety”, Guillermo Rein, Imperial College
Industry: Jonathan Crozier, pinfa and Quentin de Hults, Modern Building Alliance (MBA)
12.30-13.00 Questions and Panel Discussion
13.00-13.45 Light Lunch
AFTERNOON WORKSHOP – DEFINING A FIRE SAFETY MISSION
13.45-14.00 Introduction to Afternoon Breakout Sessions
14.00-15.00 Roundtable workshop to define possible Fire Safety Mission for Horizon Europe
FINAL PLENARY SESSION (Moderator: Kristin Sukalac, Prospero)
15.00-15.50 Summary report key points from breakout table discussions
15.50-16.00 CONCLUSIONS and WHAT’S NEXT? (Patrick van Hees, LTH)
As we get closer to the date of the Workshop, additional information may be posted, and registrants may receive additional information by email. Thank you for your interest in this important initiative, and we look forward to seeing you in Brussels in December!
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us at margaret.mcnamee@brand.lth.se
IAFSS
Sponsors:
The IAFSS would like to thank the following sponsors for making this meeting possible:
Brandforsk, Kingspan, The Modern Building Alliance, The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), pinfa, Rockwool and The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).
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