NFPA Journal - November/December 2020 - 52

Research by Birgitte Messerschmidt

THE GLOBAL
VIEW ON FIRE
RESEARCH

Data United
NFPA PARTICIPATES IN AN AMBITIOUS NEW EFFORT TO STANDARDIZE THE COLLECTION
AND INTERPRETATION OF FIRE DATA FROM AROUND THE WORLD

s much as safety profes-

Harmonizing how fire data is collected
sionals wish that every
and interpreted across the EU will lead to
life safety problem could
several important outcomes. For instance,
be addressed and our
for the first time, it will be possible for
proposed solutions fully
each of the EU member states to accufunded, the reality is that no country has
rately benchmark their data against other
the resources to tackle every issue. Even
EU countries, information that can help
in the best cases, investment in fire and
guide and improve local safety policies.
life safety comes down to a cost/beneThe new harmonized data can also help
fit analysis: How we can we get the best
identify what fire and life safety probbang for our safety buck?
lems are common across Europe, giving
In a perfect world, the answers to that
the EU Parliament a more comprehensive
important question would be largely based
view and informing the EU-level policies
on quality fire data, which provides valunecessary to address these shared safety
Harmonizing fire
able insight into safety gaps and a range
concerns. Lastly, by undertaking this
data will give officials
of potential solutions. Unfortunately, that
project, researchers will gain access to a
across borders insight
world is a dream, not a reality.
treasure trove of data about various fire
into what's working
In many places around the world, basic
prevention approaches being undertaken
and help them find
fire data-such as the number of fires by
throughout the various EU member states.
property type in a region or the leading
This will give officials across borders
solutions to problems
causes of home fires-either doesn't exist
insight into what's working and possibly
in their jurisdictions.
or isn't reliable. In cases where decent
help them find solutions to pesky probfire data does exist, differences in the
lems in their own jurisdictions.
data collection methods and how the
While the project's focus is on the EU,
data is defined-such as what counts as
the audit of data collection practices
a fire and a fire death and what doesn't-can make it difficult and terminology will undoubtedly lead to many important
to draw meaningful conclusions across borders. If we cannot insights and best practices that can benefit countries around
compare one country's fire problems with another's, it's impos- the world-especially those with limited fire data or no system
sible to know which policies and codes are working and how for data collection at all. This will be a hugely valuable starting
they might translate to another jurisdiction.
point for NFPA's ongoing efforts to help countries around the
Fixing this fire data problem will be a herculean task, but world set up their own fire data collection systems.
we recently took an exciting first step. This summer, European
Further, if the data definitions and methodologies develParliament set aside the equivalent of about $745,000 to fund oped by this study become widely adopted across the globe,
a project aiming to harmonize the fire data collection meth- the number of places that speak the same data language would
ods and terminology between the 27 European Union member grow exponentially, as would the benefits for researchers and
nations. This will entail identifying the fire data collection policymakers. Not only would applicable fire and life safety data
methods and terminology used within each EU country, as be readily available, but important policy decisions would be
well as in the U.S., Canada, Norway, and Australia, and then supported by a world's worth of experience. Finally, we could
proposing a common data methodology for the entire EU going operate with the assurance that we were spending our limited
forward. The project is being undertaken by a consortium of safety dollars in the most effective ways possible.
universities and organizations around the world, including
NFPA, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.
Birgitte Messerschmidt is director of the Applied Research Group at NFPA.

MICHAEL HOEWELER

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NFPA Journal - November/December 2020

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