Fire Safety is a priority for the European wire and cable industry “Fire safety is a priority for the European wire and cable industry, and the energy transition should be seen as an opportunity to help improve citizens’ safety”. This was the key message Europacable conveyed at the 2023 European Fire Safety Week.
The annual event which aims at elevating fire safety to a higher priority on the EU agenda saw the active participation of hundreds of stakeholders, including fire fighters, academia, EU and national policy makers, industry representatives in a series of online and physical meetings from 13-17 November.
Amongst others, professionals in fire safety and policymakers discussed and agreed to continue current work on fire statistics to ensure the development of a standardised and consolidated methodology to collect and compare the different EU fire statistics. This would represent a key concrete starting point for a developing a coordinated approach on fire safety at European level.
To have access to the different recordings of the 2023 Fire Safety Week, please click the button below.
Furthermore, in the aftermath of the European Fire Safety Week, together with other 17 associations, Europacable launched a Fire Safety Manifesto in view of the start of a new European political cycle in 2024.
The Manifesto calls on the European institutions to:
- Prioritise fire safety in buildings; and
- Develop and promote a consistent Strategy with EU Member States for the fire safety of all people who live and work in buildings.
In particular, the 18 Associations call for stronger and stricter product compliance enforcement through reinforced market surveillance activities and active cooperation among all relevant actors in the fire safety ecosystem. This mirrors one of the main Europacable requests as product compliance is a prerequisite for fire safety and enforcement is key to ensure that only compliant products in line with fire safety requirements are put on the European market. Product compliance is not only the job of manufacturers and market surveillance authorities, but a common responsibility to be shared among all relevant players in the value chain.
To read the Manifesto, please click the button below.