The Role, Competencies and Accreditation of Fire Safety ...

The Role, Competencies and

Accreditation of Fire Safety Engineers –

How Has It Changed Over 25 Years??

Peter Johnson – Arup Fellow

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• The role of the fire safety engineer

o Pre-1997

o Post 1997

oThe future

• Competencies

o Past and current

oThe future

• Accreditation

oRegistration

Presentation Outline

SFS - 25 Years On 19 August 2019

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• 1989 – First Warren Centre Project

• 1991 –Building Regulation Review Task Force – draft NBFSSC

• 1994 – ABCB created

• 1994 – Fire Code Reform Centre

• 1996 – BCA 96 – first full performance based building code

• 1997 – BCA 96 implemented in legislation; private certification; no national adminstrative provisions

History in Australia


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• Limited performance based design and analysis – BCA 90

• Mostly led by building surveyors/certifiers

• Largely analysis – few “alternative solutions”

• Analysis largely undertaken by CSIRO, SSL, BHP, WFR and a few others

• Some building audits for DHS

The Role – Before 1997


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• Varied between States and Territories

• Some regions and projects led by certifiers

• Others led by fire safety engineers

• In many cases, limited to fire safety engineering analysis in support of “Alternative Solutions”

• DTS solutions excluded from scope

• Often no real creative design role

The Role - After 1997


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Smoke Control Design and Analysis


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• Harvard Code

• FIRST

• ASET-B

• ASCOS

• DETECT-T2

• FPE-TOOL

• FIRECALC

• CFAST

• FDS

Fire and Smoke Models


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Hot Smoke Tests


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• SFPE Hand Calculations

• Evacnet+

• EXITT

• Simulex

• EXODUS

• Mass Motion

Egress Models


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• Use of Egress Modelling in Performance-Based Fire Engineering Design-A Fire Safety Study at the National Gallery of Victoria

• PETER F. JOHNSON Scientific Services Laboratory 177 Salmon Street Port

Melbourne VIC 3207 Australia

• VAUGHAN R. BECK and MAHMUT HORASAN Victoria University of

Technology Ballarat Road Footscray VIC 3011 Australia

• Paper to 4th International Symposium IAFSS held in Ottawa Canada in 1994

NGV Evacuation Study


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Fire Risk Assessment


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Major Façade Fires


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Major Inquiries – Hackitt and Shergold/Weir


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What Role Do We Want Fire Safety Engineers to Play in the Future ??


What Does Industry/Consultancy Want From Fire Safety Education?

Peter Johnson, Arup

For University of Edinburgh

and

Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust

▪ We want creative, knowledgeable professionals who can think and develop exciting and cost effective design solutions for fire safety in a multi-disciplinary design environment.

▪ We want people with great fundamental fire engineering skills, who are adaptable, pro-active, commercially savvy, team players and future leaders!

▪ We don’t want people who are happy to just apply codes and standards, are reactive, only highlight what cannot be done, don’t understand cost, don’t understand construction and buildability, and cannot effectively communicate fire safety ideas!

▪ We want creative, knowledgeable professionals who can think and develop exciting and cost effective design solutions for fire safety in a multi-disciplinary design environment.

▪WHEN DO WE WANT THEM▪ - WE WANT THEM NOW!!!!

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The Warren Centre Research – University of Sydney – Future Role for Fire Safety Engineers


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• Regulation Report

• Education Report

• Methods Report

• Roles and competencies

• The whole aim of the research is to lift the competencies of fire safety engineers and create a full and true profession as a model for other disciplines.

• www.thewarrencentre.org.au.

Warren Centre Research Reports


http://www.thewarrencentre.org.au/

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• Leading, managing and delivering compliant fire safety design

• From Planning & Concept Stage to Commissioning & Handover

• Creative, pro-active design engineers –not just analysts

• All Performance Requirements – not just Performance Solns

• Embracing all stakeholders in consultation

• “Chain of Responsibility” through design and construction

• Addressing fire safety management and maintenance

• NOT taking over systems designers/installers roles

• Next Stage – Write new competencies

Warren Centre – Roles Report for Fire Safety Engineers


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• 5. Smoke control – undertaking:

- analysis of smoke production,

- quantitative analysis of smoke spread

- analysis of smoke control measures

• 6. Interaction between fire and people – recognising:

- human behaviour during fire emergencies,

- building layouts, occupation rates, means of egress

- methods for estimating occupant response in a fire emergency.

• 7. Fire-ground operations – taking into account:

- fire brigade capabilities

- the role of the fire brigade during a fire emergency

- methods of incorporating fire brigade intervention in a fire safety analysis.

Current NER FSE Competencies


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• Warren Centre - current Task 2.3.2

• Stage 1 and Stage 2 Competencies

• Reflect new anticipated FSE roles

• Competencies based upon:

oKnowledge

o Skills

o Personal attributes/behaviours – ethics, cognitive biases

Warren Centre – New FSE Competencies


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Understanding Fire Service Operations


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• Currently two schemes but different

• EA NER, and IFE

• Need to embrace new FSE competencies and push for full professionalism

• Stage 1 (general CPEng) and Stage 2 (FSE) competencies

• More rigour on audits and CPD

• Make suitable for State and Territory licensing or registration

Accreditation


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• Move fire safety engineering to full and proper profession

• Support the Warren Centre project and influence governments

• Strong advocacy for profession

• New professional roles

• New competencies

• Updated accreditation and a national model for licensing, registration

Summary


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Thank You


The Role, Competencies and Accreditation of Fire Safety ...

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