The Fire Industry Association (FIA) has confirmed its line up of speakers and topics for its annual conference to be staged on March 17 at the Williams F1 Conference Centre in Oxfordshire.

The conference’s theme is “Driving Safety Forward”. The recent Government and legislative changes, including the Services Directive and Fire Futures, will be addressed by FIA CEO Graham Ellicott.


Also on the agenda will be false alarms, which remain a major challenge for all involved in fire safety, with Suzanne Whitehead, from Kings College London, presenting a case study showing how they tackled their particular problems. Martin Duggan, General Manager of the FIA and Secretary of the association’s Fire Risk Assessment Council, will discuss the latest position regarding competency of fire risk assessors.


Other topics will include gaseous extinguishing systems, developments in water mist technology, connecting fire alarm systems over the internet, aspirating smoke detection in high spaces and prosecutions under the Fire Safety.


The 2011 conference will be presented in association with fireandsecurityjobs.com and will see presentations run concurrently throughout the day across several rooms to allow delegates to choose their area of interest.


FIA Marketing Manager Becky Reid said: “whenever we develop a programme for the FIA conference we start with the issues which are high profile and which directly affect our members and others who work in fire safety. This line-up really has something for everybody and we look forward to a lively and interesting exchange of ideas, as well as the opportunity for delegates to network.”


The venue for this year’s conference is the Williams F1 Conference Centre located at the home of AT&T Williams in Grove, Oxfordshire.

Further details on the conference and an online booking facility are available from the ‘Events’ section of the FIA website

Early bird discounts apply (on both FIA member and non-member rates).