Disability Consideration in Fire Safety in Public & Private Sector Buildings

With 11 million people in the work place with a hearing impairment, and 13 million people who have a form of disability other than a hearing issue, this one day event will highlight the need for open mindedness on this particular subject and will open up a dialogue for Fire Safety Practitioners about being more inclusive and broader minded around decisions made on fire safety needs for those who have a disability.

With guest speakers including:

Matthew Wood MlinstLM DipFD TiFireE CFPA (eu) Dip
SME owner & CEO at Millwood Servicing Ltd
A practicing Fire Safety Engineer and business owner for fifteen years – Matt will be providing the key notes for the day by way of highlighting the fundamentals of Holistic Disability Awareness from an employer’s POV regarding Fire Safety provision; having recently committed his company to becoming a fully Disability Committed Employer and taking on a yearlong Intern who just happens to have disabilities.

Don Scott B.Eng. (Hon.), DEM (Hon), I.Eng., MIEE, MIFireE, MSFPE
Fire Engineering Consultant at Siemens IC BT FSS
Don will be highlighting the opportunities and technologies availed to the Duty Holders and Responsible persons alike with regards to Early Warning from Automatic Fire Alarm & Detection systems.

Katie Dyne – (who is Deaf herself)
Deaf/DeafBlind Specialist Worker, Sensory Impairment Team Health, Wellbeing and Adult Services
London Borough of Croydon. Katie’s fantastic 60-minute presentation will realy open your eyes (and ears) to the reality behind being Deaf when it comes to working in commercial sector in public buildings and when the general public really don’t know what to do. Her session includes role play with lip reading and basic signing to get you all started.

Andrew Shipley – (who is Blind himself)
Andy is a Policy Manager for the spinal injury charity Aspire. Between 2000 and 2007 Andy was the Disability Rights Commission’s built environment policy lead. In this capacity, he sat on the Business and Community Safety forum and, as such, played an active role in the development of government guidance on ‘Means of Escape for disabled People. Andy is also a member of the Building Regulations Advisory Committee and sat on the working group that last reviewed Part B. He is a member of the committee responsible for British Standard 8300 and is also a Built Environment Expert for Design council CABE. As a Commissioner for a sustainable London 2012, Andy had oversight of the delivery of the London Olympic and Paralympic games, to ensure they achieved the goal of being the most accessible and inclusive games ever. Andrew will be discussing his views on how Duty Holders can do more in respect of holistic disability awareness & compliance from his own POV and years of experience.

Richard Fowler
Interim Assistant Director, Operational Support & Resilience at East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. International President IFE 2019-2019
60 mins presentation on a separate Case Study from ESFRS.

Laura Davis- Chairperson BASE
Laura Davis is the Managing Director of Ways into Work Community Interest Company based in Maidenhead, Berkshire. The organisation delivers Supported Employment services across Berkshire for individuals with a disability or disadvantage. Laura started her career in Supported Employment over 15 years ago as a Job Coach and has recently completed the Supported Employment Certificate to ensure that she continues to remain connected on the ground. She has led her service to win three national awards and is highly passionate about quality within the sector. Laura will be focusing on the needs and requirements for people with disabilities from an Employment POV with a strong emphasis on pushing the envelope on the Responsible Persons when it comes to more than just thinking about being Disability compliant- and more so to reach out to other expert agencies that can advise accordingly not just Fire Engineers and Fire safety practitioners.

This event has been awarded 5-6 CPD hours from the IFE. Three course lunch is provided.

0900 registration Coffee etc for 0930 start

1300 lunch in the Restaurant

1600 finish