Human
Behaviour in Fire – Informing Practice
Panel Leaders: Steve Gwynne, National Research Council
of Canada, Canada and
Erica Kuligowski, National Institute of Standards and Technology,
USA
Panel Members:
Rita Fahy, National Fire Protection Association, USA
Brian Meacham, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA
Ian Thomas, Victoria University, Australia
Rodrigo Tavares, RMT Fire and Crowd Safety, Brazil
At the last HBiF symposium we made an attempt to determine the
research priorities for the field and establish this research
was of value to practitioners. This panel session addresses the
continuing impact and sustainability of Human Behaviour in Fire
- as a field of research and as a mechanism for achieving practical
benefit.
It is critical that the research conducted has an impact on safety
levels and is perceived as having an impact of value. Otherwise,
it may be financially neglected affecting its long-term survival.
This requires that the field is addressing real safety concerns
and that it does so effectively and visibly.
The origins of the field suggest a practical basis. This practicality
is required to influence education, training, fire safety engineering,
community safety outreach, design codes, modelling and the regulatory
frameworks in place, i.e. it should influence not just our understanding,
but also policy and practice. The nature of this influence will
need to be flexible - it is unlikely that it will be a one-size-fits-all-solution,
both in terms of the content and presentation of the research
conducted. For instance, in domestic settings the emphasis may
be on research into preventing an incident occurring given limitations
on procedural mitigation; elsewhere (for instance, in assembly
settings or large-scale incident affecting a community), research
on developing human/technological resources to cope with an evolving
incident given the resources at hand may be more effective.
This panel will then address the following questions:
1. What (and where) are the current safety problems?
Who is involved
and how are they affected?
2. Where do we currently target our research?
3. How do we measure impact and how do we currently measure up?
Is
current HBiF research adequately meeting societal needs and the
needs of key end users?
4. How might the current safety problems evolve given projected
societal, demographic and environmental changes?
5. How do we enhance impact, given the projected changes?
Can
our research be more effectively targeted to maximize future benefits
associated with increasing fire safety?
How
significant must the benefits be to sustain the field in the future?
It is hoped that this discussion will help researchers focus their
research and present their results in a manner that maximizes
impact on public safety and ongoing financial support to safeguard
its future.
