international conference on building fire safety fire safety engineering – the graduates’...

International Conference on Building Fire SafetyFir

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Pe

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Fire

S

afet

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ngin

eer

ing

– th

e G

radu

ates

’ P

ersp

ectiv

e

• Chris Gildersleeve – Arup Fire, Brisbane

• Andrew Coles - Arup Fire, San Francisco

• Bevan Jones – Holmes Fire & Safety, Sydney

20-21 November 2003

Gardens Point Campus

QUT Brisbane


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In tr o d u ct io n

• Fire safety engineering in building design has increased since 1997

• Globally fire safety engineering is gaining momentum

• Consultancies have responded well to the demand

• Graduate engineers now make up a significant proportion of the industry

• Fire graduates face different challenges to traditional engineering disciplines

• Survey of 34 young engineers from Australia, UK, New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong and Singapore


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Sa

mpl

e Gr

ou p Loc

atio

ns


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Gra

dua

tes’

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rspe

ctiv

e

W ha t is

yo ur

gr ea te st

m oti

va tin g inf

lu en ce ?

a) Financial re

ward

b) Working with appreciative clients

c) Being part o

f a successful team

d) Working on challenging projects

e) other (state)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Working on

challenging

projects with a

good group of

people

““


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H o w

ch all

en gi ng

do

yo u fin d yo ur

rol

e?

a)Signficantly more...

b) Somewhat m

ore...

c) As I expected

d) Somewhat less c...

e) Signficantly less...

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

I believe that fire engineering provides a challenging career when compared to other engineering disciplines, as young fire engineers are exposed to relatively complex issues early in their career

“ “


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How

hi

gh is

th

e le

vel

of

resp

onsi

bilit

y on

pr

ojec

ts gi

ven

to

you?

a) Significantly higher...

b) Higher than I expe...

c) As I expected

d) Somewhat lower th..

e) Signficantly lower ...

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

As young fire engineers I

believe the level of

responsibility that we are given

is much greater than that of

our equals in other engineering

professions.

“ “


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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%

a) S

igni

fican

tly b

ette

r tha

n I e

xpec

ted

b) B

ette

r tha

n I e

xpec

ted

c) A

s I e

xpec

ted

d) S

omew

hat le

ss th

an I e

xpec

ted

e) S

igni

fican

tly le

ss th

an e

xpec

ted

I believe the masters course in which I

undertook was geared towards the practical

side of fire engineering as a professional with

most of the design tools and literature those

that are used everyday in commercial fire

engineering.

To

wha

t ex

ten

t has

yo

ur

acad

emic

st

udy

equi

ppe

d yo

u fo

r th

e jo

b?

“ “


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Gra

dua

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rspe

ctiv

e

““

Wha

t ty

pe

of

skill

s do

yo

u m

ost

wis

h yo

u ha

d de

vel

oped

fu

rth

er

durin

g your

ac

adem

ic

trai

ning

?

Given that young

fire engineers are

exposed to the

commercial arena at

a relatively early

stage in their career,

development of good

commercial skills as

well as a strong

business and

management sense

is essential.


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0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

a) S

ignific

antly

gre

ater

than

I ex

pecte

d

b) S

omew

hat g

reat

er th

an I

expe

cted

c) A

s I e

xpec

ted

d) S

omew

hat le

ss th

an I

expe

cted

e) S

ignific

antly

less

than

exp

ecte

d

Very stressful at times, but very rewarding. I love working as a fire protection engineer.“

“H

ow

wou

ld

you

desc

rib

e yo

ur

daily

w

orkl

oad?


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a) significantly better than..

b) Better than I expected

c) As I expected

d) Somewhat less than I...

e) Signficantly lesss than...

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Ho

w

eff

ect

ive

is

the

pro

fes

sio

nal

trai

nin

g an d de vel

op me

nt

pro

vid

ed

to

yo u?

As much as you

might believe you

know everything,

listen to experienced

engineers – they have

already made the

mistake you are about

to make.

“ “


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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

There are not

enough oldies to

mentor in this

industry

To

wha

t ex

ten

t are

yo

u pr

ovi

ded

with

a m

ent

or to

pr

ovi

de

prof

ess

ion

al

guid

anc

e?

“

“


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dua

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rspe

ctiv

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Wha

t pr

iorit

y ar

e yo

u pl

aci

ng o

n ga

ini

ng

prof

ess

ion

al

qual

ific

atio

n?

a) V

ery

high

b) H

igh

c) M

edium

d) L

ow

e) V

ery

Low

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Not considered

critical at the

moment by approval

authorities.““


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rspe

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To

wha

t ex

ten

t is

the

fire

engi

nee

ring pr

ofe

ssio

n m

eeti

ng

clie

nt

need

s?

In my

experience

performance

based fire

engineering is

able to save

clients a

significant amount

of money and also

achieve their

design vision.

““

a) S

igni

fican

tly b

ette

r tha

n..

b) B

ette

r tha

n I e

xpec

ted

c) A

s I e

xpec

ted

d) S

omew

hat le

ss th

an I..

.

e) S

igni

fican

tly le

ss th

a...

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%


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ctiv

e

To

wha

t ex

ten

t is

the

fire

engi

nee

ring pr

ofe

ssio

n m

eeti

ng

com

mun

ity ne

eds?

I think that fire

engineering is meeting

community needs

although they don’t fully

appreciate it, the airy

offices that they work in,

the atriums etc that have

been made possible by

fire engineering. I think

that good architecture

can enhance people’s

standard of living.

a) S

igni

fican

tly b

ette

r tha

n I...

b) b

ette

r tha

n I e

xpec

ted

c) A

s I e

xpec

ted

d) S

omew

hat le

ss th

an I e

x...

e) S

igni

fican

tly le

ss th

an e

x...

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

““


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rspe

ctiv

e

To

wha

t ex

tent

w

ill t

he

fire

engi

neer

ing

prof

essi

on

prov

ide

you

with

a

fulfi

llin

g lo

ng

term

ca

reer

pa

th?

a) S

ignfic

antly

bet

ter t

han

I exp

ecte

d

b) B

ette

r tha

n I e

xpec

ted

c) A

s I e

xpec

ted

d) S

omew

hat le

ss th

an I

expe

cted

e) S

ignfic

antly

less

than

exp

ecte

d

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Fire Engineering

is in its infancy and

will only grow in

scope and

complexity

especially as such

more disciplines

such as Security

Engineering

develop under its

wing.

““


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Con

clu

sio

ns

(Pos

itiv

e)

Its new and exciting Technically challenging Politically challenging Plenty of responsibility Get to solve real

problems Sense of achievement

Wide range of projects Opportunities to travel Able to influence

designs Doing innovative work Useful service to the

community Bringing lateral thinking

to the design process


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Con

clu

sio

ns (neg

ativ

e)

Work / life balance Insufficient structured training and

development Too few mentors Clients not involving fire engineering

early in projects Little recognition of fire engineering in

the community Career paths undefined

international conference on building fire safety fire safety engineering – the graduates’...

Documents

safety engineering

engineering professions

international conference

building design

career slide

singapore slide

young engineers

experienced engineers