The Working Commission on Fire Safety (W014) led by Coordinator Professor João Paulo C. Rodrigues, University of Coimbra, Portugal met on-line on 13 October 2020. The group discussed possibilities of future ways of working either by working groups(e.g. Structures and Materials at High Temperatures; Fire Safety Systems; Installations and Equipment; Format of Fire Codes/Regulations) or by geographical area. The creation of working groups will be done as soon as the Commission has a regular number of members participating in the committee’s work.
The Commission is actively seeking new members. In addition to the traditional membership from universities, they are focused on private professional practice, industry, and especially young members active in the area of fire engineering. The Commission is interested in working with students and possibly creating a CIB W014 student chapter and will contact some students in universities for organizing this group. It is a good way to start introducing young students to fire engineering research and to the activities of the Commission.
The secretary of the Commission elected for the next period is C.J. Walsh, FireOx International, on an interim basis. CIB W014 will organize and support, whenever possible, workshops in Fire Engineering (e.g. https://www.icef.online/). The Commission is planning to participate in the CIB World Building Congress (https://www.cibwbc2022.org/).
The role of ‘Fire Engineer’ was discussed. The Commission does not have the power to legislate but should create a document with the minimum skills it deems essential for the fire engineer to have. This document can support different countries around the world wanting to create the profession and practice of ‘fire engineering’.
Ensuring CIB W014 liaises with industry & those innovators in Fire Safety Products/Systems is an urgent issue and of the utmost importance for future CIB W014 work. Every year, new solutions emerge in different areas of fire safety and the Commission needs to analyze these, see what their potential/weaknesses are, and what are the implications for fire safety in buildings.
Due to the COVID‐19 Pandemic, the next CIB W014 Conference ‐ IFireSS, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2021 ‐ will be postponed to March or April 2022.
The Commission plans to meet online every 3 months. The next meeting will be In early January 2021. Please contact Professor João Paulo C. Rodrigues ([email protected]) for more information about collaborating with W014, CIB’s Working Commission on Fire Safety.
