On 30th November, FM Business Daily staged the second in its series of roundtable events focused on fire safety, sponsored by Premier Technical Services Group Ltd (PTSG).
Following the success of the first roundtable event in July, at which Dame Judith Hackitt was the guest speaker, FM Business Daily delivered a second event that covered some vital topics on life safety in buildings, leading to lively discussions.
Guests ranged from Managing Directors to Building Safety Managers, Head of Procurement and Director of Fire and Safety Compliance. There were two guest speakers: Sheetal Panchmatia and Neil Yeomans.
Keynote speeches
Sheetal Panchmatia has held various roles with the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) since joining in 2004, including a secondment to the Government Office for West Midlands (GOWM) as the Regional Fire Service Lead. She is also the Lead for Residential Voice and Hotels at the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC).
Sheetal’s speech was entitled ‘An Inspector Calls and the Moving Target of Fire Safety”, referring to the continual challenges present in this area. The Fire Safety (England) Regulations, which were updated on 23rd January this year, formed the core of the presentation, and the greater demands on dutyholders.
Neil Yeomans was appointed chair of the National Housing Federation’s building safety group earlier this year. Neil has been a member of the group since 2022 and has worked for Orbit for eight years, heading up an award-winning property safety team. Under Neil, Orbit has won a second consecutive Merit for its commitment from the British Safety Council and a gold health and safety award from RoSPA for the fifth consecutive year.
Neil spoke about the need for a change of mindset from managing compliance to managing risk – and the importance of the right people making the correct decisions on fire safety within buildings.
Before the keynote speeches, Andrew Dack, PTSG’s Group Sales Director, delivered a short address on PTSG’s work in fire solutions, in particular the work of its engineers in the social housing sector. This includes passive fire and fire suppression services as well as security systems.
Igniting lively discussions
The two keynote speeches led to a lively discussion, facilitated by FM Business Daily’s MD, Cheryl Ellerington and parent company owner and CEO Simon Taylor. As expected, the speeches prompted a range of questions and answers on fire safety in buildings which continues to be one of the most important subjects in commercial and residential buildings nationwide.
Numerous compliments were received on the day and all of those present expressed interest in attending future discussions, with several also stating that their companies would like to sponsor their own roundtables.
A full report on the first roundtable will be included in the December/January issue of FM Director magazine and additionally included within the daily newsletters, www.fmdirector.com website, and the FM Business Daily LinkedIn page.
Those wishing for more information on how to sponsor their own live events are invited to contact FM Business Daily managing director Cheryl Ellerington: cheryl@fmbusinessdaily.com
