Fire Safety Matters Podcast - Episode 7

The Fire Safety Matters (FSM) Podcast is hosted by the magazine’s Editor Brian Sims and Western Business Media’s CEO Mark Sennett and is available fortnightly on Wednesdays. The FSM Podcast is sponsored by The Fire Safety Event, which takes place at the NEC in Birmingham on 27-28 April 2021.

Shaping future policy 

In Episode 7, Brian interviews Dennis Davis, executive officer at the Fire Sector Federation. Dennis is a fire engineer by background and boasts a Master’s degree in fire service management. He has served as president of the international Institution of Fire Engineers (an organisation of which he is a Life Fellow) as well as the Chief Fire Officers Association (now the National Fire Chiefs Council, of course) and has also acted as a strategic advisor for the CTIF (the International Association of Fire and Rescue Services).

Dennis is the proud holder of a CBE bestowed by Her Majesty The Queen for services to the fire sector. Dennis was also presented with Her Majesty The Queen’s prestigious Fire Service Medal back in 1989.

The Fire Sector Federation itself continually seeks to exert influence when it comes to shaping future policy and strategy related to the UK’s dedicated fire sector. A not-for-profit, non-Government organisation, the Federation was established to act as a forum for the discussion of fire-related issues of interest to its membership and also to evolve as a central source of information on all aspects relating to fire, in turn bringing together representatives from a range of stakeholders comprising the UK’s fire sector.

In the FSM Podcast interview, Dennis discusses the Federation in general and outlines what areas were covered in terms of the organisation’s written submission towards the content of the much-discussed Fire Safety Bill. He also elaborates on what changes – if any – the Federation deems to be necessary when it comes to Approved Document B.

Is the Fire Sector Federation actively focusing on raising awareness about the need for competency in relation to fire safety work? Absolutely, and Dennis describes how this is being done while also touching on the focused and timely planning guidance the Federation has created for businesses such that they can successfully emerge from the COVID-19 crisis.

Legal and systems perspectives

As always, Mark chats with leading fire safety lawyer Warren Spencer. For this episode of the FSM Podcast, Warren outlines a new service that has been launched to limit liability under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 in addition to highlighting how fire safety inspectors are now starting to move enforcement and prosecution cases forward into the courts system once again now that some of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions are being eased.

Focusing on the systems side of the industry, Mark also interviews Andy Scott, the founder and director of specialist life safety systems manufacturer C-TEC. The business is the UK’s largest independent developer of such systems, in fact, having been established back in 1971. Currently, the company trades in upwards of 70 countries.

For his part, Andy holds a BSc degree in Electronic Engineering from Loughborough University and serves as chair of the dedicated British Standards Institution committee responsible for standards focused on fire alarm devices, voice alarm evacuation systems and emergency voice communications.

During the FSM Podcast, Andy turns his attentions towards BS 8629, the Code of Practice for the Design, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance of Evacuation and Alert Systems for Use by the Fire and Rescue Services in Buildings, as well as commenting more generally about current and, indeed, future innovation in terms of those systems designed for the protection of premises.

On top of all that, the FSM editorial team analyses the latest major news emerging from the fire sector.

Listen to the FSM Podcast

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Alternatively, you can listen to the FSM 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