Feature Fire Safety Matters Live 2021 FIA Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry
Fire Safety Matters Live
Wednesday 3 November witnessed the inaugural edition of Fire Safety
Matters Live, the all-new online conference delivered by Fire Safety Matters
magazine and chaired by Western Business Media’s CEO Mark Sennett. Here,
Fire Safety Matters’ Editor Brian Sims examines the key contributions made on
the day by the Health and Safety Executive and the Fire Industry Association
COMPRISING ELEVEN detailed
presentations from industry thought
leaders, Fire Safety Matters Live enabled
delegates – all of whom could register
for free – to view the detailed
Continuing Professional Development-certified
content as well as network with
each other and sponsors via the live chat
function available on the day.
Headline Sponsor for the event was
Advanced. Platinum Sponsors were
Aico, Apollo, asecos, FFE and Tio Fire
Safety, with simPRO and Uptick also
very much part of the mix.
Pleasingly, Fire Safety Matters Live
was supported by many of the leading
industry organisations, among them the
Fire Industry Association (FIA), the
Health and Safety Executive (HSE),
BAFE, the Association for Specialist Fire
Protection (ASFP), the Institute of Fire
Safety Managers (IFSM), the Rail
Industry Fire Association, the
Independent Fire Engineering and
Distributors Association, the National
Association of Healthcare Fire Officers,
the National Security Inspectorate (NSI)
and the Security Systems and Alarms
Inspection Board (SSAIB). The Fire
Safety Event organised by the Nineteen
Group also supported the conference.
The content on offer for delegates was
both rich and varied in nature. Amanda
Hope (UK business development
manager at Advanced) spoke about
integrated fire safety solutions, duly
covering the key considerations when
planning life safety systems for larger,
mixed-use sites. The focus here was all
about delivering integrated solutions
that deliver immediate as well as long-term
benefits for the host organisation.
A thought-provoking panel
discussion ran from 11.00 am-11.30 am
and involved contributions from Chris
Auger (director of schemes at BAFE,
and who served as chair for this
session), John Davidson (approval
schemes manager at the NSI) and Mark
Forster-Searle (assistant fire scheme
manager at the SSAIB). The subject
matter was ‘The Significance of the
Competency Culture in the Fire Safety
Industry’. There was an in-depth
discussion on the shift that’s occurring
in terms of how competency is
witnessed for fire safety-related work.
Mike Sutton MIET MIFSM GIFire
(business development manager for the
healthcare sector at Apollo Fire
Detectors) gave a brilliant presentation
on system costs with a keen eye on the
healthcare sector, focusing on
installation, operation and maintenance
issues in addition to upgrade scenarios.
The advantages and disadvantages of
both open and closed protocol solutions
were outlined in great detail.
Legislation landscape
‘Domestic Fire and Carbon Monoxide
Legislation, Regulation and Standards in
the UK’ served as the subject of choice
for Andy Speake (national technical
manager at Aico). It was extremely
interesting to learn how regulations and
legislation differ throughout the UK.
Nigel Ward (technical sales engineer
at FFE) then examined the different
sensing technologies available for rapid
flame detection and how they can be
applied in the real world to afford
optimal protection for today’s facilities.
Jason Hill (sales manager at Tio Fire
Safety) concentrated on the use of digital
logbooks to ensure fire safety
compliance, assessing how they can
It’s about trying to achieve a real step-change in attitude,
behaviour, culture and performance across the whole
process of designing, constructing, maintaining and
managing higher-risk buildings
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