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The European Fire Safety Action Plan (2020-2023) was developed based on the results of the first edition of the European Fire Safety Week in 2019, the opinion of over 300 European fire safety experts and stakeholders of the European Fire Safety Alliance. The focus was on fire safety in the residential environment and was divided…

The second report of The Grenfell Tower Inquiry published on 4th September 2024 is a final report into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire at Grenfell Tower in the early hours of 14 June 2017. The publication of the Phase 2 report marks the end of a process that began on 15…

This paper discusses the safety and more specifically the fire safety of indoor car parks accommodating electric vehicles and of charging facilities in indoor car parks. It answers the question of how to deal with the increase in electric vehicles in indoor car parks from a fire prevention and repression perspective. This paper provides guidance…

The Final Report concludes that due to the lack of common terminology or variables with a similar nomenclature covering different aspects, fire statistics and data cannot always be compared between countries. This hinders e.g., effective cross-learning about successful fire safety interventions. To develop a comprehensive evaluation, this research has identified fourteen variables that should be…

At least a quarter of fires are caused by an electrical problem in (household) equipment or installations. This is usually the result of a faulty design. In addition, the fire safety performance of the cables also plays a role.To get an impression of the fire behaviour of two different types of cables and their influence…

As long as sofas and mattresses will produce an extensive amount of smoke, every individual fire safety measure will be insufficiently effective to reduce smoke propagation. The combination of limiting the use of synthetic materials (especially foams) in furnishing and closing the doors is the most effective combination of fire safety measures”, according to researchers…

Statistics from a number of European countries reveal that electrical fires account for 25 – 30% of all domestic fires, an increase of 5 – 10% in the last 10 years. The total number of fires of electrical origin in the EU is estimated to be 273,000 per year. Their consequences are dramatic in terms…

Little is known about the effects and effectiveness of different methods for evacuation and firefighting against smoke propagation. The Fire Service Academy of the Institute for Safety (IFV) have conducted during two weeks in the summer 2019 smoke propagation experiments in a residential building, located in the town Oudewater in the Netherlands. Nineteen experiments have…

The regulation requirements for upholstered furniture are nationally defined and lead to very different safety levels across Europe. This paper studies the fire performance of upholstered furniture across Europe and demonstrates the differences in the fire safety of sofas in different countries. Real sofas were purchased over Europe and tested first alone then for several…

The new action plan ’10 actions that will improve Fire Safety in Europe’ focusses on fire safety in the residential environment and is the follow-up of the European Fire Safety Week 2019. Held in three different countries and with people participating from over 20 countries, this event tried to contribute to a more fire-safe Europe….

After the first step toward understanding fatal residential fires in Europe resulted with the publication of the report Fatal Residential Fires in Europe. A preliminary assessment of risk profiles in nine European countries, the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA) and the Dutch Fire Service Academy (IFV) decided to deepen this analysis what lead to the second…

Plan a Community Fire Safety Project with the lean Deming Cycle–also commonly known as PDCA Cycle, Deming Wheel, Shewhart Cycle, or Continuous Improvement Spiral. The Deming Cycle consists of a logical sequence of 4 repetitive steps for continuous improvement and learning: PLAN, DO, CHECK (STUDY), and ACT. See here how to set up a community…

On the 28th of November 2018, the Modern Building Alliance and the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA) organised a roundtable event in the European Parliament entiteld ‘Fire safety, setting the scene for fire safe European buildings’. The event was supported bij MEPs Bendt Bendtsen and Theresa Griffin, who both acknowledged the need for better harmonised…

European fire services recommendations on test methods 10 questions and answers about the study and the results Q&A Fire safety of upholstered furniture and mattresses

In 2016 the Institute for Safety and a retailer started a co-operation with the purpose to initiate a new approach towards product requirements for upholstered furniture and mattresses. Those requirements should improve consumer safety significantly taking into account current living situations and current research on domestic fire safety. The overall goal is to improve domestic…

Over the past two years, the Federation of the European Union Fire Officer Associations (FEU) has studied the need to increase the fire safety of furniture and mattresses in homes in Europe and the options for how to achieve this. This article provides further details about this process and the results of this project. The…

This is the final report of the Federation of the European Union Fire Officer Associations (FEU). The FEU commissioned a working group to conduct research and draft an opinion on a set of test methods that the fire departments in Europe believe necessary to ensure that fires involving furniture in domestic fires affect the survivability…

Improving fire safety in residential environments can only be effective when we understand the likelihood, circumstances, and effects of residential fires. Since fire safety measures transcend national borders, greater insights into residential fires on a European level is necessary. For this reason, the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA) and the Dutch Fire Service Academy (IFV)…

The improvement of fire safety in the living environment can only be effective when we have knowledge about the chances, circumstances and effects of residential fires. Since fire safety measures transcend national borders, greater insights into residential fires on a European level is necessary. For this reason, the European Fire Safety Alliance (EuroFSA) and the…

In her interim report, published in December 2017, Dame Judith Hackitt’s described how the regulatory system covering high-rise and complex buildings was not fit for purpose. In the intervening period, there is further evidence confirming the deep flaws in the current system. See here the final report

The European Union implemented the requirement for cigarettes to self-extinguish in order to reduce smoking-related fire deaths. However, the effectiveness of fire-safe cigarettes in reducing the number of fatalities is limited due to various factors such as socio-economic conditions, the ignition source, objects in the vicinity, and the conditions of the victims during the fire….

In cooperation with the National Fire Sprinkler Network (NFSN), the NFCC commissioned Optimal Economics to analyse five years’ worth of sprinkler data. This data was supplied by every FRS in the UK. Data for 2,294 incidents was provided in total. The aim of the analysis was to provide authoritative assessment of the reliability and effectiveness…

The Fire Service Academy of the Institute for Safety (IFV) structurally gathers data on fatal residential fires in the Netherlands. In this process the Fire Service Academy cooperates with the fire brigades and fire research teams involved in these fires. They provide data on fatal residential fires through a questionnaire. The respondents are approached based…

Burns are a major public health problem globally. Fire-related burns alone account for more than 300 000 deaths per year, with more heaths resulting from scalds, electrical, chemical and other types of burn. Most of these deaths (95%) occur in low- and middle-income countries. Deaths are only part of the problem. For every person who…