Investigations by BRE’s Fire Safety Research team deliver fundamental knowledge that has practical impacts on everyday life. The BRE Trust has provided – and continues to provide – significant funding support to the team’s studies, which have so far addressed questions including:
- Why do people die in fires and what can be done to save lives?
- Why do false alarms occur and how can they be reduced?
- How can new fire detection technologies be robustly tested so that they are fit for purpose?
- How can visual warnings be given to warn the deaf and hard of hearing in the event of a fire?
- Are tests for assessing smoke alarms and smoke detectors, developed decades ago, still valid although materials used in buildings have changed significantly?
- How can large refuse fires (which often last for weeks) be put out effectively?
Industry collaboration – working with industry partners throughout the process provides the vital industry commitment and engagement – in the form of cash, equipment or data – from the outset of each research project to the implementation of its findings.
Wide ranging dissemination – the Fire Safety Research team puts a strong emphasis on making its research findings widely available to those who will most benefit from putting them into practice. This includes presenting at events and producing detailed reports for experts in this field, video summaries for the wider market, and articles for journals and trade press. A new website dedicated to both presenting the research findings and engaging with the industry, is at www.bregroup.com/firesafetyresearch – for more details.
Fire Safety Research Poster
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