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Worldwide fire safety initiative endorsed by United Nations
12 October 2021
A GLOBAL International Fire Safety Standards (IFSS) Coalition comprising upwards of 80 fire safety leadership organisations has launched a 40-page document entitled ‘Global Plan for a Decade of Action for Fire Safety 2022-2032’. The aim is to ensure an internationally consistent approach towards the safety and management of buildings and infrastructure and save lives by reducing risk as well as preventing devastating fires.
The launch of the ‘Global Plan for Decade of Action for Fire Safety 2022-2032’ document is backed by the United Nations (UN) and builds on the International Fire Safety Standard – Common Principles (IFSS-CP) published by the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition in October last year. It follows on from extensive work designed to energise public confidence around the regulation and control of fire safety measures.
The ‘Decade of Action’ delivers a clear goal, a performance-based objectives framework and common actions that align with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals that can take place at the individual, community, city, national, regional and global level.
Those sustainable development goals can be defined as follows:
*Pillar 1: People – Actions to help individuals and groups understand fire and what they can do to increase their understanding about it
*Pillar 2: Products – Actions to reduce fire hazards associated with appliances, contents and building components
*Pillar 3: Structures – Actions to reduce fire hazards associated with structures encompassing the planning, design and operational phases
*Pillar 4: Infrastructure – Actions to help enhance firefighting infrastructure
*Pillar 5: Communities – Actions to facilitate sustainable and fire resilient communities
The IFSS Coalition is an industry-led global response to address differing or, in some cases, non-existent requirements in countries across the world when it comes to fire safety. Contrasting approaches have resulted in significant variations in the design, approval, construction methods and operation of buildings and infrastructure, thereby impacting fire risk.
Improvements and consistency
Gary Strong, chair of the IFSS Coalition, said: “We’ve worked hard to produce this globally applicable way in which to bring improvements and consistency in fire safety to buildings and infrastructure new and old, and then reduce the risk to lives. The goal of the ‘Decade of Action for Fire Safety’ movement is to stabilise and reduce the forecasted level of fire fatalities, injuries, economic cost and environmental impact around the world by 2032 despite an increase in population over this period.”
Strong continued: “This new initiative is unprecedented, being the first agreement on fire safety actions on this international scale, with its development supported by the UN in line with its own sustainable development goals. It’s the outcome of extensive work and worldwide expertise on fire safety drawn from over 80 coalition organisations and will bring reassurance that the construction and management of buildings and infrastructure upholds appropriate fire safety standards, with improved training, education and resources all part of the mix.”
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