FIA Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry Software & IoT Feature
on our list for discussions is the
insurance industry whose members can
play a key role in encouraging the use of
the IoT in our sector.
Initial goals
Initial goals for the IoT Forum include
the provision of a platform for the IoT
to be discussed within the fire industry
that will, in time, bring together FIA
members, the wider industry, approval
bodies, other Trade Associations and,
indeed, the Government.
We also want to educate end users
around the benefits of the IoT and
address concerns that they may have on
the security, reliability and availability
associated with it. There’s a desire to
work towards better collating and fully
understanding the relevant standards
and regulations involved with working
in relation to the IoT in the fire industry
in order to make them accessible to all.
Ultimately, we must also work
towards influencing, guiding and
creating standards to incorporate the
IoT where and when needed.
The IoT is a wide-ranging, at times
complex and ever-changing topic.
Unlike most issues, it doesn’t fit neatly
within the remit of any one particular
FIA Council or Working Group. As
such, it’s important to realise a flexible
framework that allows information from
a variety of areas to flow both into and
out of the IoT Forum.
To ensure that we’re giving our IoT
Forum the best possible opportunity to
make the biggest difference, we’ve added
the IoT to the agenda of many of the
FIA Councils it directly affects (namely
the Fire Detection and Alarm, Services,
Fire Risk Assessment, Extinguishing,
Export and FIRESA Councils). We’ve
would be vital to know for those who
are working with the IoT in the fire
industry. We’re also creating Fact Files
and Best Practice guidance through our
Task Groups to help inform
professionals, educate end users and fill
in the blanks where current standards
and regulations are perhaps unclear.
Further, we’re deliberately showcasing
the best of what the fire industry has to
offer end users by way of turning
presentations given to the IoT Forum by
its members into news stories that can
then be promoted through the FIA’s
wide-reaching social media and e-communications.
This then serves to
promote the role that the IoT is
currently playing in making the fire
industry an enhanced environment.
The FIA’s IoT Forum provides a great
opportunity for FIA members to work
with other members under the banner
of the FIA and benefit from the IoT. If
you’re eager to join or just want to know
more, please do send an e-mail to:
arichardson@fia.uk.com •
Adam Richardson is Operations
Manager at the Fire Industry
Association (www.fia.uk.com)
also assigned many Councils a specific
IoT liaison who will relay information,
ideas and news back and forth between
their particular Council and the IoT
Special Interest Group (SIG).
In addition, we’ve created Task
Groups within the IoT SIG whose
members are able to focus on a specific
area of how the IoT is playing – and can
play – a role in the fire industry.
Currently, we have the Cyber Security,
Alarm Receiving Centres and Digital
Logbooks Task Groups in operation.
We’re keen to expand these Task Groups
as and when the IoT Forum decides.
Determined actions
Given the ever-growing nature of the
IoT, it’s crucial that our IoT Forum
provides tangible results quickly if we’re
to address the aforementioned goals.
If our industry fails to take advantage
of the opportunity the IoT offers to
improve our industry then it’s likely that
this chance will slip beyond our grasp.
In terms of actions being undertaken,
we are now researching, collating and
organising the IoT into categories and
bringing it all to one home for all the
relevant standards and regulations that
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