fig leaves

The newsletter of the Fire Information Group UK (FIGUK)

www.figuk.org.uk

No. 38
March 2009

Edited by Sheila Pantry, OBE
Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd

This Newsletter contains:

• News from around the World
• Diary of Events
• Summary of the FIGUK Meeting held on 11 March 2009
• Dates of next meetings

FIGUK website www.figuk.org.uk ... please help to promote FIGUK whenever you can...

News items from around the world

Mind the Gap: Keeping up to date in fire information 2009: FIGUK Conference

Essential one-day conference for all those involved in Information in fire and fire related topics.
Benefit from the expertise of specialist speakers.

Chaired by Sheila Pantry OBE, long time health, safety and fire information expert.

Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London, UK

Full programme - titles of talks and speakers on www.figuk.org.uk

Booking

To make a booking for a delegate to conference please fill in the Booking Form.

Cost per delegate is £120.00 (FIG UK Members £80.00) and send by Good Friday, 10 April 2009 at the latest, with cheque made out to "Fire information Group" to:

Sally Walsh, Fire Information Group, Dr J. H. Burgoyne & Partners LLP, 11-12 Halfmoon Court, Bartholomew Close, London EC1A 7HF, UK | Email: sally.walsh@burgoynes.com

UK Health and Safety Executive Research Report RR682 - Development of fire protection measures for vessels containing reactive chemicals

The objective of this work is to have a better understanding of the phenomena that occur when a vessel containing reactive chemicals is exposed to an external fire and so assess possible preventive and mitigation measures. The following approach has been adopted:

• an experimental calorimetric system for the simulating the effects on chemicals in vessels under fire loading was developed;
• the validity of theoretical models for the correction of adiabatic data were tested experimentally;
• dynamic simulations of large-scale vessels containing reactive chemicals exposed to a pool fire were carried out in order to study the effect of the presence of an insulation layer.

This work will form a useful basis for HSE to assess the adequacy of the 'fire case' for relief systems provided on a range of process reactors containing reactive chemicals and on storage vessels for reactive monomers. These installations vary in size from small reactors common in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industries to the large, several hundred tonne capacity storage vessels used in the petrochemical industry.

This report and the work it describes were funded by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Its contents, including any opinions and/or conclusions expressed, are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect HSE policy.

View the full report: www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/rr682.htm

Buncefield back to petrol storage

Part of the Buncefield oil storage depot in Hertfordshire, UK, has now been granted approval to store petrol on site.

Planning restrictions have limited BP to storing only aviation fuel until now.

An explosion ruptured the terminal in December 2005, injuring 40 people and damaging residential and business properties. It was caused by an overflowing fuel storage tank at the Hertfordshire Oil Storage Limited (HOSL) terminal at Buncefield.

Dacorum Borough Council and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) say that energy company BP has met all safety criteria. The council formally signed off safety works undertaken by BP following a year of inspections by the council, HSE and Environment Agency to check BP had met 55 safety criteria set out in a legal agreement drawn up in February 2008.

Up until now planning restrictions have meant that the company could use its existing tanks at the depot for storing aviation fuel only. The stringent criteria were set to ensure that the HSE and Environment Agency could confirm to the Council that they both were satisfied with the safety of operations at the site before any moves by BP towards storing ground fuel like petrol or diesel.

Cllr Ian Reay, Dacorum Borough Council, said: "The safety of local people and businesses and the prosperity of the Maylands business area has always been our primary concern. However, we have to recognise the national significance of fuel supply through Buncefield.

"The list of safety criteria which we have now signed off was compiled from reports by the Buncefield Standards Task Group and the Major Incident Investigation Board. We have done all we can to ensure the highest possible standards of safety at the site."

www.dacorum.gov.uk/default.aspx?page=5828

Call for Papers: Annual Conference: Fire Related Research and Developments (RE09) to be held at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh, UK, Wednesday 11 November 2009

The Institution of Fire Engineers and The Fire Service College are pleased to announce details of its annual conference and to invite papers for inclusion in plenary, parallel or poster sessions. Are you or your colleagues engaged in an innovative project, research and/or development in a fire-related field? We wish to hear from individuals, Fire and Rescue Authorities and other organisations looking to showcase best practice, initiative and cutting edge research. Our conference attracts a wide audience from across the Emergency Services, the Fire Industry, Research Communities and other private or public sectors interested in the latest fire-related issues, developments and concerns. We welcome a broad range of backgrounds and professional approaches including technical, engineering, legal, social, psychological, economic, operational, national and international perspectives. This gives our conference its distinctive multi-disciplinary and multi-agency flavour.

Benefits of attending this event include the opportunity to:

• be informed about the latest developments in research and best practice and learn from a range of approaches and perspectives on key topical issues
• profile and discuss your work by giving a presentation - in person or by poster
• apply, as a presenter, for the annual Gore/Fire award - presented to the most captivating research project and including a cash prize
• informally discuss project-related issues and problems with others actively engaged in research and development work
• meet and network with a range of professionals from across fire-related communities
• receive an award of CPD hours by the IFE
• discuss opportunities for further professional development with representatives from the IFE, City and Guilds and IPDS

We are now inviting anyone interested in presenting at the conference to submit a short summary of their work (complete or in progress) using proforma by Thursday April 30th 2009. Presentations may focus on any field of interest to the Fire and Emergency Response and Management community. This might include (but is not restricted to) projects focussing on: technical and fire engineering research; audit analysis, leadership issues, effective evaluation methods; multi-agency initiatives, partnership working, governance, employment relations, fire research statistics; integrated risk management planning; the application of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order; civil protection & disaster management; professional training and development etc.

Contact Programme Co-ordinator Dr Anne Eyre, who is happy to discuss possible topics informally prior to submission.

Email: anne.eyre@traumatraining.com | Tel: +44 (0) 2476 505262

Fireinf

FireINF, published by Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd is an Internet service of a collection of 17 full text and bibliographic databases that continues to grow at a pace. It is arguably one of the best collections in the world - FIREINF has customers from around the world.

Recently it has now almost doubled in size - with three more databases being added.

A number of journals such as Fire Risk Management (formerly Fire Prevention and Fire Engineers Journal) and Fire Technology are now being indexed from cover-to-cover because of the lack of indexing from other information providers. Some indexing is retrospective to ensure that valuable sources are not missed out.

There is a continuous stream of full text documents and legislation being added. FIREINF is a unique service and now has over 524,000 records to journal articles, guidance and advice, circulars, reports, conference proceedings, research reports, statistics and codes of practice from worldwide sources, all of which may be easily accessed.

One of the databases - from the British Standards Institution - contains references to over 4000 fire and fire related standards. Another - the British Standards Institution Security Standards contains references to security-related standard specifications. These standards will be of particular interest to those involved in insurance in the fire related industry. Latest database to be added to FIREINF contains fire and fire related information from the BRE BRIX database. In addition FIREINF contains a large amount of information from the Fire Protection Association.

If anyone wishing to have a free 15 day trial of FIREINF should contact Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd. Why pay more for information? Go to: www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

www.fireinf.com | www.oshupdate.com

Fire Protection of The Built Heritage Conference

Grampian Fire and Rescue Service, in partnership with Historic Scotland are hosting a one-day conference to raise awareness of the devastating effect of fire on the built heritage and provide an understanding of preventative measures. The FREE event will take place in Elphinstone Hall, Old Aberdeen on Tuesday 5th May 2009.

Topics that will be presented include:

• Legislation and Guidance
• Application of the Scottish Building Standards in the conversion of traditional buildings
• Fire safety management in heritage buildings and the requirements of the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005
• The work of the NFPA Cultural Resources Committee in developing international codes
• Technical Solutions
  • Introducing new technologies into traditional buildings
  • The use of sprinklers and other suppression systems in the protection of historic buildings and contents
  • Managing the fire engineering project
• Management Solutions
  • Developing a fire management plan
  • Developing a Damage Limitation Plan
  • Practical example of fire safety management in a historic building

The conference is suitable for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Service managers, Local Authority Building Control Officers and planners, historic building owners and managers, Governmental and Non-Governmental agencies involved in the management of the built heritage and professional bodies with an interest in the built heritage.

For further information, and to register an interest in attending, visit the conference website at www.fpbh.info

Conference is free of charge.

IFE Rasbash Lecture 4 June 2009 (CPD)

The Institution of Fire Engineers are pleased to announce that Dr Craig L Beyler, Technical Director of Hughes Associates, Fire Science and Engineering and current Chair of the International Association for Fire Safety Science, has agreed to deliver the 2009 Rasbash Lecture.

The event will take place at the Defence Fire & Rescue Service Headquarters, Andover, Hampshire, on Thursday 4 June and Dr Beyler's lecture will be on the theme of "A Review of Fire Suppression Science and Engineering, Firepoint Theory and Beyond".

Further details and online booking at www.eventsforce.net/ife.rasbash09

The Fire Service Research and Training Trust (FSRTT)

The Fire Service Research and Training Trust (FSRTT) in conjunction with the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) has for many years made funds available to UK citizens to support people associated with the Fire Service, Fire Engineering, Emergency Planning and Risk Control.

The funds that are provided support either individual's personal development or provide support for essential research to take place. In order to qualify for funding, the personal development or research must support the further development of knowledge in the fields of fire, fire engineering, emergency planning, risk management, community safety, environmental protection or management.

www.ife.org.uk/edutrain/fsrtt

Diary of Events

If you have any events that you wish to publicise please send to Sheila Pantry
sp@sheilapantry.com and they will be added to www.oshworld.com/diary.html and also to the FIGUK web site

6-7 April 2009 - Fire 2009 - Flammability and combustibility in building materials conference
Chicago Marriott Downtown, Chicago, USA
Contact: www.principiaconferences.com/conferences/conference.php?confID=12
Readers may also wish to take a free trial of FIREINF www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

6-8 April 2009 - Fire Dynamics and Fire Safety Engineering Design
School of Engineering and Electronics, Fire Safety Group, University of Edinburgh, UK
Contact: Office of Lifelong Learning, The University of Edinburgh, 11 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh, UK | Tel: +44 (0)131 651 1189 | Fax: +44 (0)131 651 1746 | Email: cpd@ed.ac.uk | www.lifelong.ed.ac.uk/cpd
Readers may also wish to take a free trial of FIREINF www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

20-25 April 2009 - Fire Department Instructors Conference (FDIC) 2009
Indianapolis, IN., USA
Contact: www.fdic.com

5 May 2009 - Fire Protection of the Built Heritage Conference
Elphinstone Hall, Old Aberdeen, Scotland
Contact: Historic Scotland and Grampian Fire and Rescue Service (conference is free of charge) | www.fpbh.info

5 May 2009 - British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association Ltd (BAFSA) Spring Members' Meeting
Aberdeen, Scotland
Contact: British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association Ltd, Richmond House, Broad Street, Ely CB7 4AH, UK | Tel: +44 (0) 1353 659187 | Fax: +44 (0) 1353 666619 | Email: info@bafsa.org.uk | www.bafsa.org.uk

6 May 2009 - British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association Ltd (BAFSA) R&D Seminar
Aberdeen, Scotland
Contact: British Automatic Fire Sprinkler Association Ltd, Richmond House, Broad Street, Ely CB7 4AH, UK | Tel: +44 (0) 1353 659187 | Fax: +44 (0) 1353 666619 | Email: info@bafsa.org.uk | www.bafsa.org.uk

11-14 May 2009 - International Firex Show
NEC, Birmingham, UK
Contact: www.fireandrescueexpo.com
Readers may also wish to take a free trial of FIREINF www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

11-14 May 2009 - Fire and rescue Show 2009
NEC, Birmingham, UK
Contact: www.fireandrescueexpo.com
Readers may also wish to take a free trial of FIREINF www.sheilapantry.com/interest.html

11-14 May 2009 - Occupational hazards and reproductive health (4902)
SPA Hotel, Naantali, Finland
Contact: Gunilla Rasi, NIVA Topeliuksenkatu 41 a A 00250 Helsinki, FINLAND | Tel: +358 30 474 2498 | Fax: +358 30 474 2497 | Email: gunilla.rasi@ttl.fi | www.niva.org

13 May 2009 - Mind the Gap: Keeping up-to-date in fire information 2009: Fire Information Group UK (FIGUK) Conference. Essential one-day conference for all those involved in Information in fire and fire related topics. Benefit from the expertise of specialist speakers
Imperial Hotel, Russell Square, London, UK
Contact: Sheila Pantry, FIGUK | Tel: +44 (0)1909 771024 | www.figuk.org.uk

25-28 May 2009 - inFIRE Conference 2009 "From Research to Practice: Role of the Fire Library"
Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Contact: Mike Culhane, Head, Library/Internet Services, Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada Building M-20, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6 | Fax: +1 613-952-7671 | Email: Mike.Culhane@nrc.gc.ca | http://www.infire.org/conferences/2009/

Keep looking at www.oshworld.com/diary.html fire and fire related events and also www.figuk.org.uk

Abbreviated Minutes of the FIGUK meeting on 11 March 2009, held at Dr J H Burgoyne and Partners LLB, London

Chair:

Sheila Pantry

Minutes:

Penny Morgan and Sheila Pantry

Present:

Roger Berrett (Dr Roger Berrett Associates)

Anna Canning (CLG)

Elizabeth Delaney (BSRIA)

Paula McCrudden (Hawkins and Associates)

Michele McHugh (London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA))

Julia Mason (Fire Service College (FSC))

Penny Morgan (International Fire Consultants (IFC))

Lauren Paines (Barbour)

Sheila Pantry (Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd)

Jane Thurgood (Fire Protection Association)

Sally Walsh (Dr J H Burgoyne & Partners LLP)

Alyson Warner (CLG)

Apologies:

Jackie Green (Beds & Luton FRS)

Nigel Herring (Bureau Veritas Ireland and UK)

David Lane (Lane, Jefferies and Associates)

John Roy (formerly IHS)

Jack Sullivan (Valiant Fire Protection)

Julia Ferrugia (West Midland Fire Service)

1. Welcome

Sally Walsh welcomed everyone to Burgoyne's.

2. Introductions

As there were several new faces at the meeting introductions were made. FIGUK is delighted to welcome Alyson Warner, Communities and Local Government (CLG), Lauren Paines representing Barbour, Elizabeth Delaney, replacing Stephen Lloyd from BSRIA and Jane Thurgood from the Fire Protection Association (FPA).

3. Minutes of the Last Meeting

The minutes of the meeting in September 2008 were agreed as a true record.

4. Matters arising

a) There will be a new membership form after this meeting that will be posted on the FIGUK website.

b) The FSC 'Red' journal has now ceased. Julia Mason, FSC is the contact for back issues.

c) Sheila Pantry suggested that FIGUK should compile a union list of journals taken by Members' organisations to see who takes current fire and fire related journals. It was agreed that photocopies would be exchanged between Members provided these fell within Copyright Law but multiple photocopies should be requested from the British Library. Jane Thurgood pointed out that the Publishers Licensing Society (PLS) www.pls.org.uk allows a percentage of material only to be copied. Any copies must be sent by mail not email.

After discussion it was agreed that the Union list would be available only as a word document for Members and would not be published on the FIGUK website. Members are reminded that there is a list of Fire and Fire Related journals compiled by Sheila Pantry on the FIGUK web site that gives details of publishers and their contact details, ISSNs etc. This is currently being updated.
INFIRE members see www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/InFire/orgs.html also a useful contact (but only has a couple of UK members).

ACTIONS: Members will to contribute to the Union List of Journals to forward titles to Sheila Pantry

5. Accounts

Michele McHugh was thanked for all her hard work, Treasurer's duties are now undertaken by Sally Walsh who presented the accounts, see below.

The financial year runs from January to December. (See Constitution on FIGUK web site)
Details of the current financial position has been circulated.

ACTIONS: Sally Walsh - Invoices for 2009 membership subscriptions will be sent out, Sally added that payments can be sent together with cheques for the conference. Sally will also prepare a Disbursement Claim Form. Penny Morgan to be added to the FIGUK signatories.

6. Membership

Sally Walsh then ran through the membership that currently stands at 19 members.

A number of actions were agreed to try and enlarged the membership.

Also ALL Members were asked to contact other potential delegates to the FIGUK conference.

7. Conference

Also ALL Members were asked to contact other potential delegates to the FIGUK conference.

Michele will try to advertise the conference more widely within LFB and will contact Pete Mansi.
ACTION: Michele confirms that this is now agreed and over 700 people within LFB will receive the Conference publicity

Penny proposed a formal vote of thanks to Sheila for all her hard work in planning and arranging the conference. This was echoed round the table.

8. Round Table

Anna reported that Home Office have sent her boxes of old Circulars and DCOLs and a lot of Anna will circulate an email of the HO Reports she now holds including the Fire Service Manual which is not electronically available.

Sheila has asked the CLG staff who are responsible for publishing the Fire Service Manual why it is not electronically available. They are investigating - but it is likely that because of an agreement with TSO.

Anna and Alyson reported a very recent Diversity Report.

"Communities and Local Government has won an award in the Engagement and Involvement category of the Civil Service Diversity & Equality Awards 2008 (on 2nd Dec 2008). The award was presented by civil service head Sir Gus O'Donnell to members of the Department's policy and marketing teams for the excellence of the BME Fire Kills campaign.

Meanwhile the Fire Kills Team also received an important award from the Asian Fire Service Association (AFSA) for the BME Fire Kills Campaign.

The AFSA award is a testimony to the impact the BME Fire Kills campaign has had at the local level and how it has strongly supported Fire and Rescue Service engagement with the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Somali communities." There is a more detailed account on "Fire Kills" website.

Sheila noted that the Fire Statistics Users Group www.frsug.org has an interest in Wildfires and that Rob Gazzard of the Forestry Commission gave a presentation which is on the website to download see "UK Vegetation fire statistics"

Sally is currently working on a case database and marketing database to integrate the data. She is heavily into data cleansing.

Elizabeth noted that Stephen sends his regards and is enjoying his retirement.
Contact details for the library are information@bsria.co.uk for technical enquiries and information requests. Matters to do with FIGUK should be addressed to elizabeth.delaney@bsria.co.uk. No new Head of Information has been appointed. The Facilities Management (FM) engineering department has one vacancy. The Head of FM Engineering, Jo Harris, is working on a building occupiers handbook which will be an introduction to statutory requirements and related building services information including risk assessments, planned maintenance on fire alarms, emergency lighting etc. A full list of BSRIA publications can be found at https://www.bsria.com/uk/knowledge/bookshop. This includes worldwide market information on fire detection. BSRIA's Training Manager, David Bleicher, is looking for trainers to deliver in depth training on fire regulations, fire strategies in buildings etc. This is for a client who would like two days training. (FSC, IFC and FPA all took David's business cards).

Julia has no news re public access to the Fire Service College Library. The Library is still only available to support students and staff. The Library is using Fire Learn as part of virtual learning. The Library needs an extra staff member for a year to help sort out stock and the records.
Library still opens 24/7 and the catalogue is up to date and now available on the FSC web site.
As the FSC is a Trading Fund there is much discussion on commercial environment needs - they are currently translating material into Arabic. The USAR team have just won an award.

ACTION: A letter will be sent from FIGUK asking about progress in allowing members of the public to use the FSC Library. This will be circulated to FIGUK Members before being dispatched to FSC.

Michele has a problem with OHSIS as most of the fire stations in London cannot download material so she is looking for hard copies or CDs to be used on a secure server.

Lauren reported that Barbour has a subscription-based Health and Safety service in 7 parts and fire is presently one of the seven. It is proposed to make more publicity for the fire package. Both the Health and Safety part and Fire will have the same home page.

Michele asked if IHS has exclusive rights to anything, Jane pointed out that IHS has a greater concentration on construction topics. Sally added that they would like more fire material and was concerned. Lauren assured us that there should be no problem.

Jane is aware that people are keen to have FPA material. She has been in post for just on a year, her background is academic publishing and she is enjoying getting to grips with fire topics. FPA are about to publish a small business guide providing templates for fire risk assessments; and a CD dealing with fire safety and residential care homes aimed at county councils and the private sector. One on schools is also forthcoming, as is one on fire alarms and detection that is based on FPA courses in conjunction with the ECA.

FPA has recently published an extended Approved Document B with insurance needs added entitled ADB Incorporating Insurers' Requirements book - further information www.thefpa.co.uk/shop

The RISCAuthority (formerly InFiReS) website - full of free technical information - can be found http://www.fpadownloads.co.uk/. Users need to register for each download.
Sheila noted that these reports are indexed in FIREINF www.fireinf.com and have links to the full text.

FPA are looking at how their information is distributed and want to do more online.

Sally pointed out that some of the downloadable information held on RISCAuthority / InFiRes cannot be found when searching via Google.

Jane also mentioned that they are moving away from VHS versions of their video titles which mean they have quite a lot remaining in the warehouse. FPA offering these for £10.00 +VAT for each copy - so if there is anyone with a VHS recorder still out there, they could be of interest?! FPA would be even happier if somebody is interested in taking them away in bulk!

Jane also informed Members that if they are interested in older copies of Fire Risk Management, or its predecessors, then the journal is currently available online through membership going back to 2002, but the FPA have a lot of older copies in the warehouse and would be happy to root through if anyone is looking for any issues in particular to fill gaps etc.

Also, if anybody is interested in receiving the free FPA monthly e-newsletter, please let Jane know - the March edition is being put together as we speak.

Paula said that it is a case of business as usual; she has almost finished sorting out the library. One innovation is to try and produce a list of contacts where joint investigations are possible.

Penny described the IFE initiatives coming out of TSAG (Technical, Strategic and Advisory Group) in relation to Special Interest Groups which are:

• Fire Modelling - Neal Butterworth
• Heritage - Steve Emery
• Fire Investigation and Research - David Townsend
• Transport sector - Andy James
• Fire suppression - progress
• Compartment Fire Training - Shan Raffel (Queensland Australia)

The Fire Investigation and Research Group is planned to provide a discussion forum for IFE members, an archive of useful documents, including reports of seminal fires e.g. Windsor Castle, links to sources of information. This group seeks to complement the IAAI in its work to support active investigators. One area she is passionate about is to provide a forum for lodging concerns about types of fires and the patterns they may represent. Nightlights were a case in point - the recent BRE seminar on FI &R turned up concerns about the wheat pillows, which can be heated in a microwave. At the same time they are talking to the Head of Fire Stats in CLG, FPA and CFOA. Now that all fire service data will be recorded electronically from 1 April there is enthusiasm for looking afresh at how we investigate fires in this country. The intention is to share information - recognising that it must not compromise individual FRS liabilities or client confidentiality.

In her brief presentation at BRE last month she summed this up as follows:
The IFE Fire Investigation and Research Group seek to:

• encourage open, professional discussion and debate,
• share experience and learning,
• promote awareness and value of FI&R to the community and the build environment,
• enhance the skill of practitioners,
• build a library of useful information that members can access,
• provide a focus and central contact for relevant groups, organisations and practitioners and
• identify patterns and trends in fire incidents that may benefit from further research/examination

She asked for support from the organisations round the table in terms of generic material.

Roger is delighted to report he is still working on a variety of jobs, including training for Chevron oil staff. He will not be going to Pakistan at present.

Sheila reported the call for papers for the Fire Service College Annual Conference on Fire Related Research and Developments that must be in by the end of April 2009. The Group discussed the input into this event in November that could be straight forward as we have prepared material.
ACTION Julia will see if she can get a free space.
(NB Julia has reported back that FIGUK would have to pay £100.00. Sally and Sheila discussed this and because of our own Conference and other publicity efforts decided that FIGUK should not participate. It was felt that in the past we had not acquired any new Members through this effort).

Sheila added that the Fire and Rescue Statistical User Group (FRSUG) site www.frsug.org which her company hosts is getting much more material on it including a diary of events. She requested that all of us try to provide links to both FRSUG and FIGUK UK from our own websites. There is particular interest in wildfires information and also in fires in heritage buildings. It was noted that Steve Emery of English Heritage is a member of the FRSUG.

Sheila is very concerned that an increasing number of Health and Safety Information Centres and other specialist centres/libraries around the world are closing down or reducing in size and services.

She is writing a book with Peter Griffiths for Facet Publishing/ CILIP on How to Give Users the LIS Services They Want. She is seeking any success stories that can be used as a short case study...contributions welcome (can by anonymous if wished).

Two major collections from Sheila Pantry Associates Ltd that has subscribers worldwide are:
OSH UPDATE www.oshupdate.com now has 19 databases from authoritative organisations and has huge amounts of material in full text and bibliographic. OSH UPDATE that has over 800,000 records is constantly growing in size.

FIREINF that now has 17 databases (new one from BRE Global just added) and other worldwide authoritative organisations and has huge amounts of material in full text and bibliographic.
A recent database added is the British Standards Institution Security Standards Bibliographic Database contains references to security-related standard specifications from the British Standards Institution (BSI). These standards will be of particular interest to those involved in insurance in the fire-related industry. BSI members can obtain from BSI the full text at Membership rate.
It also led to Sheila Pantry to describe a new database previously known as BRIX Fire from BRE Global - that is being added to FIREINF www.fireinf.com - this will increase the collection of full text and bibliographic databases to 17 databases contain within FIREINF. Future records will include references to the BRE Global new reports.

Amongst the other databases are for example the LPC Fire Sciences Archive containing 80,000 items, which go up to 2003/4; University of Greenwich Fire Safety Engineering Group papers, which provides full text. 15-day free trials available for both services.

9. AOB

Sally has lots of hard copies of FIGUK Leaves and will scan those not already on the website. It was AGREED that she can use the FIGUK logo on conference invoices.

10. Date of next meetings

a) It was AGREED that this would be on Wednesday 9 September 2009 at 11.00. Elizabeth Delaney will see if BSRIA will host the meeting and let Sheila know. This is now confirmed.

Getting to BSRIA

BSRIA Ltd
Old Bracknell Lane West
Bracknell
Berkshire
RG12 7AH
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 465600
Fax: +44 (0) 1344 465626
Email: bsria@bsria.co.uk

Trains from Waterloo every half hour (currently 20 and 50 mins past the hour). Journey takes about 50 minutes. Also trains from Reading every half hour (currently 42 and 12 mins past the hour). Then either taxi from outside the station or walk. Details on attached link: https://www.bsria.co.uk/download/asset/bsria-map.pdf

However there is a slightly shorter walk than the one given on BSRIA website, although it does involve steps up and over a footbridge across the railway track. For this shorter walk turn left coming out from the station and cross the footbridge. Once across you will be in a small office park. Go around the building facing you and follow the roadway out of the office park and turn right on to Old Bracknell Lane West. Follow the road to the end - BSRIA are the last building in the lane. You will pass the back of the Ambulance and Fire stations on your left and another BSRIA building on your right. Both walks would take about 10-15 mins.

b) Conference
There will be a pre-conference meeting if the conference goes ahead - the decision will be taken on Good Friday as to whether the conference is viable.

The meeting closed at 3.25 with many thanks to Sally and Burgoynes for hosting it.