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European Fire Sprinkler Network

Acronym: EFSN

General Information

Identification Code: 54924446464-63
Website: [object Object]
Entity Form: Limited Company under the laws of England and Wales
Registration Category: Trade and business associations
Registration Date: 8/23/2011
Last Update: 2/28/2024
EP Accredited Number: 0

Mission & Interests

Goals: The European Fire Sprinkler Network was set up in 2002 to bring together all those who wish to see a step improvement in European fire safety through the wider use of fire sprinkler systems. It has members from 13 Member States, including fire brigade associations, insurers, fire safety laboratories, consultancies, fire sprinkler manufacturers and installers. We have been involved in campaigns in a number of Member States as well as in the European Parliament. Our goal is to achieve recognition in fire safety regulations of the benefits of fire sprinklers. Over 4,000 Europeans die in fires each year and the economic impact is over 1% of GDP. Fire is also a major cause of environmental incidents and the leading cause of incidents that affect water quality. Decades of statistics show that almost all the deaths could be prevented by sprinklers and that over 80% of the economic losses could also be avoided. Environmental damage could also be prevented.
Interests Represented: Promotes their own interests or the collective interests of their members
Interests:
  • Business and industry
  • Consumers
  • Environment
  • Single market
  • Trans-European Networks
Levels of Interest:
  • national
  • european

Activities

Main EU Legislative Proposals: We are following the review of the Construction Products Regulation and commented on the proposals. The CPR affects our work on construction products standards. It presently is impeding progress with standards so we are keen to see the review amend the CPR to make it possible to write standards that comply with it. We are also following the work of the European Commission's Fire Industry Exchange Platform, FIEP, which was set up in response to the Grenfell Tower disaster and as its name suggests, aims to share information and best practice between Member States. We are keen to help in that process. The FIEP has a number of active projects and we are particularly interested in its initiative to promote the use of on performance-based fire safety design. To encourage that, it is looking to draft best practice codes. Aside from that, we maintain a watching brief on some other policy areas to see whether they may inadvertently affect fire safety and the fire protection market. One example is environmental legislation, which considers the steady state but forgets about the disruptive effects of fire, which can destroy what was otherwise a well-insulated building made of renewable products, releasing considerable carbon dioxide and other pollutants.
Communication Activities: Our work is largely passive, in that we do not organise events or conduct public relations exercises aimed at the EU's institutions. Instead we respond to consultations on the Construction Products Regulation and seek to meet officials to explain the problems it is causing. To explain, the CPR only allows us to write standard test methods, not to set performance targets. Therefore for a sprinkler, a key component of a fire sprinkler system, we can only write a standard which sets out how to test whether it controls or extinguishes a fire, we cannot specify what is a good result from a fire test. National regulators do not have relevant expertise and do not wish to set pass criteria - they expect the experts to do so. But the CPR does not let us. ISO standards are able to specify what is good performance. We would rather not adopt ISO standards in Europe because it is very expensive to attend ISO meetings, which can be held in other continents. We also take part in sectoral fire safety events, such as the Fire Safety Week in November 2019, where we arranged for a fire sprinkler demonstraction unit to be brought near to the European Commission, so that those present could see how a sprinkler extingishes a fire.
Inter-institutional or Unofficial Groupings: N/A

Head Office

Address: 70, Upper Richmond Road
Post Code: SW15 2RP
City: London
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
Phone: [object Object]

EU Office

Address: 70, Upper Richmond Road
Post Code: SW15 2RP
City: London
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
Phone: [object Object]

Financial Data

New Organisation: false
Closed Year: [object Object]
Current Year: [object Object]
Complementary Information: As stated in section 10, we only keep a watching brief on EU legislation, since Member States have legislative competency for fire safety. EU legislation can indirectly impact fire safety, for example through the CPR, which in its current form causes much confusion and hinders the creation of suitable European standards. EU environmental legislation can also impact fire safety if it encourages technologies that can lead to more and more dangerous fires. EU safety legislation, such as potential bans on PFAS, can also affect fire safety. We support the ban on PFAS but need to find alternative solutions and establish their design and use criteria in revisions to standards. In practice most of our time spent on EU activities is spent on standards, with meetings usually held online and only occasionally at CEN in Brussels. We participate in one annual EU lobbying activity, EU Fire Safety Week, held in November.

Membership Information

Members10 Percent: 0
Members25 Percent: 1
Members50 Percent: 0
Members75 Percent: 0
Members: 1
Members F T E: 0.25
Info Members: Most of the time calculated above is spent on CEN meetings

Structure

Structure Type: Structure
Is Member Of: www.eurosprinkler.org
Organisation Members: National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Fire Sector Federation Institution of Fire Engineers Italian Fire Sprinkler Network Society of Fire Protection Engineers Business Sprinkler Alliance National Fire Sprinkler Network Belgian Fire Sprinkler Network POLIG Rociadoressalvanvidas.org