Fire Safety Matters Podcast – Episode 20

The Fire Safety Matters Podcast is hosted by the magazine’s Editor Brian Sims and Western Business Media’s CEO Mark Sennett and kindly sponsored by The Fire Safety Event, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham from 7-9 September 2021.

As stated, Episode 20 includes Brian interviewing specialist fire protection consultant Tony Cash, international president of the Rail Industry Fire Association and managing director of Dr Tony Cash and Associates. Tony (who was also our guest on Episode 10 of the Fire Safety Matters Podcast) has served as a practising fire protection specialist for four decades now, specialising in the fire-safe design of often extremely complicated and unusual projects realised in both the private and public sectors.

His most recent engagement was as the Chartered fire engineer for Heathrow Airport Ltd and the UK’s international ‘front door’ hub airport. Tony was the chosen subject matter expert specifically responsible for all aspects of fire protection and fire engineering across the entire campus, including fire strategies, engineering standards, fire detection, fire suppression, fire ventilation, life safety systems, fire-resisting construction, the reaction-to-fire properties of materials, fire signage and emergency lighting. He also actively supported operational teams and, indeed, Heathrow’s wider organisation to ensure robust asset management.

Project Kestrel

Recently, Fire Safety Matters reported on the launch of a ground-breaking initiative dubbed Project Kestrel which sees the City of London Crime Prevention Association partnering with the London Fire Brigade and The Skills Network to offer front line security operatives the opportunity to gain a nationally recognised certificate of learning in fire awareness.

As part of the awareness course, security personnel will be able to learn all aspects of fire safety, including fire prevention and detection and awareness of local hazards and risks, while also gaining a better understanding of duties and responsibilities. Candidates who enrol on the fire safety instruction programme, which is actively supported by Don Randall MBE (more of whom anon) and David Ward MSyI (director of David Ward Associates) have the chance to earn two Continuing Professional Development (CPD) points from The Security Institute.

In conversation with Brian, Tony explains some of the underpinning detail of Project Kestrel and how he came to be involved in this initiative before evaluating what sort of training is available for the individual operatives who take part in Project Kestrel.

As part of the learning programme there’s talk of an ‘information package’ for the blue light responders. Tony outlines the detail on this and touches on the desire of Project Kestrel’s organisers to make the City of London a safer place for all. Where does the fire safety-focused element play its part here? Listen to Episode 20 of the Fire Safety Matters Podcast and find out.

Another aspect of Project Kestrel is support for the London Fire Cadets. Tony describes how this will manifest itself in practice. To conclude, he comments on the trend in recent years for members of security teams to be tasked with fire safety-related duties. Will that particular move inevitably develop even further as time progresses?

Creation and target audience

The second guest on this edition is Don Randall MBE, chair of the City of London Crime Prevention Association. Don served in the City of London Police from 1969 until 1995 with a remit focused on counter-terrorism and fighting fraud. In 2008, he was appointed head of security at the Bank of England and, five years later, as the Bank’s first Chief Information Security Officer.

Don is a former Master of The Worshipful Company of Security Professionals, a previous winner of the Association of Security Consultants’ prestigious Imbert Prize and also a Fellow of The Security Institute.

In addition, Don is a member of the London First Advisory Board, an Executive Member of the London Resilience Board, chair of the London Resilience Business Sector panel and also sits on various expert panels relating to the prevention, deterrence and detection of terrorist and other criminal activities.

On this episode, Don also turns his attentions towards Project Kestrel, duly outlining the main reasons why it has been created and detailing the target audience for this initiative. There’s discussion around active support from the blue light services and how that manifests itself.

Finally, Don goes on to profile the various charitable causes that Project Kestrel is commendably supporting.

Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

When talk turns towards ‘all matters legal’ in relation to fire safety, there’s no better expert to reference and learn from than our regular Fire Safety Matters Podcast contributor Warren Spencer (managing director at Blackhurst Budd Solicitors). In point of fact, Warren has prosecuted more cases under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 than anyone else. The list of such cases with which he has been involved now stretches to over 200.

On this episode of the Fire Safety Matters Podcast, Warren looks back on last month’s online conference run jointly by Fire Safety Matters and Blackhurst Budd Solicitors where the topic under the microscope was ‘Enhancing the Fire Safety Order’. Real life Case Studies framed the majority of the content. Warren also looks to address some delegate questions that were submitted on the day.

As always, the Fire Safety Matters editorial team also analyses the latest major news stories emerging from the fire sector here in the UK, among them the launch of the inaugural Fire and Security Matters Awards which are set to run in April 2022 at The Ricoh in Coventry.

Listen to the Fire Safety Matters Podcast

You can listen to the Fire Safety Matters Podcast for free on iTunes, Spotify or Google Play. To download the Fire Safety Matters Podcast on iTunes or Spotify, all you need to do is enter the term ‘Fire Safety Matters’ into the search box of your chosen platform.

Alternatively, you can listen to the Fire Safety Matters Podcast online at fsmpodcast.podbean.com or via our YouTube channel by clicking here.

*If there are any specific subjects you would like to see featured in an upcoming Fire Safety Matters Podcast please do contact us. You can do so on Twitter by using the hashtag #FSMPodcast. Alternatively, send an e-mail direct to bsims@westernbusiness.media