THE NEW CHALLENGES IN THE FIELD OF BUILDING FIRE PROTECTION
What was said at the 3rd International Conference on Fire Protection of Structures
The new challenges that the scientific and technical community has to face in the field of construction fire protection were put in the focus of the 3rd International Construction Fire Protection Conference which took place on Friday and Saturday at the Megaro International Conference Center of Athens and was organized by the non-profit organization Hellenic Institute of Construction Fire Protection (EL.I.PY.KA), reports the APE-MPΕ. “Many recent examples of both natural disasters and technical causes, especially with fire, show the necessity of reflection and discussion around safety issues for the issues related to the fire protection of constructions”, said the president of EL.I .PY.KA, mechanical engineer, Yannis Angelis.
The Conference, which was the third in a row, aimed to present the cutting edge of technology in the fire protection of constructions, focusing on a key topic. With the participation of speakers from all over Greece and from abroad, the conference focused, among other things, on the fire protection regulations in various countries, and how they work, the insurance of buildings, the study of a building, etc. “We are talking about the safety of people primarily and the safety of property, while trying to share the best practice, to look at what is happening in the world and try to transfer it to the Greek territory by renewing and trying to renew the Fire Protection Regulation of Greece like this so that it remains up-to-date”, pointed out Mr. Aggelis and added that the certification of construction materials is also of key importance.
At the same time, he emphasized that the effects of climate change create new challenges for the adaptation of constructions. “Two years ago, the general secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bakoyiannis, issued an amendment to a law that concerned exactly this. At our request. You can delay the fire, you cannot stop it with a building material, you can significantly delay it so that you can either allow the escape or allow the fire to be extinguished”, noted Mr. Aggelis.
At the same time, regarding the certification of construction materials, Mr. Aggelis emphasized that part of it is the creation of “a government certificate organization that will be responsible for the certification of products, which will be supported by the Greek polytechnics that will carry out the necessary checks” . “This means that a legal framework can be created that can put an order to the products on the market but will also be able to support Greek polytechnics and their laboratories. It will be able to create engineering jobs and develop a huge industry,” he pointed out, adding that another goal is to develop people’s education in fire protection and risk understanding.
“The more you educate people the more alert they are to fire safety and understanding the risk. We have a very large engineer training program, which we hope will one day be able to contribute so that a pyrotechnic specialty can be officially created, which is missing from the Greek territory and from the range of Greek engineers”, said Mr. Aggelis.
SOURCE: https://www.michanikos.gr/