SFPE releases second edition of fire risk assessment guide and names 2023 President

The Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) has announced the release of a new engineering guide: SFPE Guide to Fire Risk Assessment, 2nd edition.

The document aims to provide guidance to qualified practitioners in developing, selecting, and using fire risk assessment methodologies for the design, construction, and operation of buildings, facilities, or processes. It is also said to address fire risk acceptability, the role of fire risk assessment and fire risk management in the fire safety design process, and associated communication/monitoring of fire risk.

The guide includes a ‘new flow chart’ that outlines the risk-assessment process, along with new information related to:

• Risk perception
• F-N curves
• Risk communication
• Residual risk management
• Risk monitoring
• Sensitivity analysis

“Understanding the topic of fire risk assessment is essential to gaining insight into and characterizing fire-related risks to better inform the wide range of decisions that should be made concerning a building, facility, or process as part of the design, construction, or operation,” stated Chris Jelenewicz, PE, FSFPE, Chief Engineer, Society of Fire Protection Engineers. “As a result, implementing a fire risk assessment can lead to a safer, more efficient, and more cost-effective design — especially for fire engineers implementing a performance-based strategy, as it explicitly ad­dresses unique aspects or uses.”

For more information on the new SFPE Guide to Fire Risk Assessment, 2nd edition and how to purchase, visit the SFPE website.

New President for SFPE

Jimmy Jönsson, FSFPE, has been named the SFPE new President for 2023

In other news, Jimmy Jönsson, FSFPE, has been named the Society of Fire Protection Engineers new President for 2023. Bob Libby, PE, FSFPE, has also been elected its President-Elect.

Jönsson is Director of JVVA Fire & Risk in Madrid, Spain. Jönsson has been an SFPE member for 20 years, has served as the first president of the SFPE Spain Chapter, was the first elected president of the group that became SFPE Europe, and currently serves as Editor of the SFPE EUROPE magazine and as an Officer on the SFPE Board of Directors. He holds a BSc in Fire Protection Engineering and an MSc in Risk Management & Safety Engineering – both from Lund University in Sweden. Jönsson is currently serving as the Program Committee Chair of both the SFPE European Conference & Expo on Fire Safety Engineering scheduled for March 2023 in Berlin, Germany, and the SFPE Annual Conference & Expo scheduled for October 2023 in Washington D.C./Bethesda, MD, USA.

Libby is Senior Vice President and Principal of Fire Protection Engineering at Coffman Engineers, where he has extensive experience in the specification, bid, award, installation, management, testing, and acceptance of fire protection systems in commercial buildings. He has been an SFPE member for 40 years and active in several SFPE chapters over those years. Amanda Kimball, PE, FSFPE, has been re-elected to another year as Secretary-Treasurer, and Shaun Kelly, PEng, CEng, MIEI, PMSFPE, has been re-elected to another term on the SFPE Board of Directors. John Frank, PE, FSFPE, and Fang Li, PE, FSFPE, have been elected to join the SFPE Board of Directors.

Both began their terms on January 1, 2023.

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