Our very own David Black, Joule Group’s Middle East Director, attended the Safety Design in Buildings event in Doha last week where he was a key note speaker. http://safetydesigninbuildings.com/doha/
THE AGENDA
On the agenda was an excellent debate on how fire and life safety within operational buildings can be significantly improved through the use of digital tools. David discussed a range of points in this important field including;
- Despite laws & regulations human error is putting us at higher fire risk on a daily basis because ‘passive assets’ (non-digital fire systems) such as fire doors, fire escapes, stairways & fire extinguishers amongst others are often being overlooked.
- We put our faith in the BMS systems (building management systems) / CAF-FM software (computer aided facility management software) platforms to manage these assets, but despite technology these checks are still largely done via laboursome & often unreliable paperwork exercises.
- Critical checks are more often than not being overlooked with no responsibility or accountability. We often don’t have visibility of who is doing what checks and when.
- The Answer – We need to have more transparency on how passive fire assets are managed & checked building to building.
- This can be achieved through the use of Digital Platforms consisting of a digital dashboard & app that simplifies the fire safety management process to ensure a holistic view of passive fire safety assets & ensure the same are fire compliant.
- And this is just the beginning. The same tools can be used to track the “smarter” fire safety systems, such as fire alarms, fire pump controls, etc. and all be integrated under one simple dashboard providing real-time feedback on the fire health status of the building.
KEY MESSAGES
- The importance of continuous monitoring and maintenance of all fire safety assets within the building.
- The driver behind regular management of fire safety assets, i.e. code compliance.
- How digital tools can be used to drive compliance, visibility, accountability and fire safety within buildings
To learn more about our digital platform click here; https://joule-group.com/tfs-compliance/