The Nordic Fire and Safety Days, Copenhagen 17-18 August 2017, organised by RISE, brought together 165 participants in Aalborg, Denmark.
The conference saw discussion on the use of flame retardants. Some participants were against the use of FRs without taking in account the fire safety aspect, whereas others presented the positive impact of FRs on fire safety and mentioned the existence of FRs usable in all type of combustible materials which are registered and not identified as potentially problematic under REACH. Presentations relevant to flame retardants included a call by Katleen Almand, Vice-President of the US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to engage debate on how fire safety contributes to tomorrow’s sustainable society, including how to address the fire safety challenges posed by energy efficient buildings (insulation materials, air-tight construction). Frederik Nystedy, Briab Sweden, discussed fire safety questions around the use of wood in tall buildings. B. Beit, Research Council of Norway presented a new 32 million € research initiative into fire safety, funded by a donation from the Gjensidige Foundation, and which will address a range of issues including fire prevention and health questions. Peter Bach Gummesen, Technical University of Denmark, presented statistics from Denmark showing that around a quarter of residential fire fatalities occurred in care homes and similar, whereas these home represent only 1.5% of the population, showing a high fire death risk for care homes. A number of other papers addressed the significantly higher fire risk faced by people of poor health, elderly or disabled. The event included brokerage meetings to develop projects on car park fires and modern building fires.
Nordic Fire & Safety Days 2017 http://www.conferencemanager.dk/NFSD2017/nordic-fire-safety-days-2017.html and Brandposten n°56 https://www.sp.se/en/units/risesafe/safety/fire/brandposten/Sidor/default.aspx