Welcome

Dear SFPE Europe members,

Hope and trust you have all (safely) experienced a nice summer break, and have been able to load up batteries again.

It is with some pride to be able to announce that SFPE Europe will soon have a legal footprint in Europe, allowing us to officially engage with the stakeholders on European level. Due to COVID-19 we have suffered some delay, but it’s admin and bureaucracy from here on, until we officially “exist”. This is all very timely, as there are quite some interesting developments on the European level, such as the implementation of the Green-deal, and the revision of the Construction Product Regulation. Proper introduction of fire safety aspects in these is not self-evident, and needs (or should I say: would certainly benefit from) well-coordinated input from us as fire engineers.

You have massively participated in our recent SFPE webinar explaining the added value to fire engineers in Europe, and have seen a bit more detail to the above. For those that have missed it, please have a look on the website for the recording.

One of the key messages that we have tried to bring across, and please forgive me for using this platform to re-iterate it, is that we have an important role to play in the building codes & standards arena, very much similar to the one in our daily jobs: that of an enabler, connecting the stakeholders, building bridges between them. To listen to the needs of all involved and come forward with science and evidence based solutions, in which the stakeholders can appreciate and find back their input.

It is with this attitude of “enabling”, that the crew which currently is at the cradle of SFPE Europe, respecting and highly appreciating those that paved the path before us, will embark upon this joint journey. We hope that some sparks of our enthusiasm also serve to warm you up and get you inspired.

Kees Both
SFPE Europe Council Chair