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AT THE General Assembly (GA) meeting held alongside the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) annual general meeting in Cambridge in July, the chairman of the Board, John Judd, presented an overview of the IFE’s strategic planning, risk management and business planning approach.
The business plan contains 45 objectives distributed across directors’ portfolios. At present, 25 of the objectives are on target for being met, 10 have been completed and 10 are due to be implemented. IFE members should be aware of the progress in areas of examination syllabus review, Engineering Technician initiatives, improved electronic communications, etc. A copy of the 2007 business plan can be found on the members’ area of the website, http://www.ife.org.uk/.
Mr Judd also spoke on some of the risks identified in the strategic risk assessment conducted last year. One that may be of interest to members was that we are over-reliant on a single source of income – that is, member subscriptions. Accordingly, one of our strategic challenges is to look for additional or expanded income streams.
GA members have shown great interest and active discussions took place at the meeting. From my observations, GA members in general have been strong advocates of views expressed by their respective branches, and the frankness and persistence in those discussions were truly admirable. These have been, and will remain, the driving force for the Board and the staff to work towards organisational excellence. We should not, however, overlook the challenges in meeting the needs and aspirations of our 11,000-odd members.
While busy with the governance and administration of the Institution, the Board is not losing sight of its outward strategic vision and the building of partnerships with sister organisations, which bring us to the worldwide consultation with fire engineering professionals that we are planning to embark upon.
To a certain degree, this strategy has relevance to an observation raised by our colleagues from the South Africa Branch. Andrew Greig made the point that, for professional qualifications and continuous professional development activities to be recognised by local authorities, they have to be supported by local legislation or a legal entity. In terms of the IFE’s support to its branches, he would like to see more work being done in this direction. On this issue, I would like to comment on the Hong Kong experience.
There are, at present, no laws that directly govern fire engineering practice in Hong Kong, and the formulation of fire safety requirements in buildings are enshrined in the Buildings Ordinance and other legislation. Fire safety design in buildings had been undertaken by engineers of other disciplines, like building services, electrical, mechanical, structural, etc.
Since 1993, over 400 members of the IFE’s Hong Kong Branch have completed a BEng (Hons) degree course in fire engineering, and some of them have become chartered engineers of the Engineering Council (UK). The provision of a recognised professional status for these members became an issue and, in order to address this, the Branch negotiated with and satisfied the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE) of the professional standards of our members. A fire engineering discipline was finally established as the 18th discipline in HKIE for admission of fire engineers.
The HKIE is established under local laws. It sets standards for training and admission of engineers and also functions as a learned society. It has a close relationship with engineering institutions across the world and has signed reciprocal recognition agreements (RRAs) with many countries. Becoming a member obviously affirms the status of a fire engineer, although a lot of work remains to be done in terms of ensuring standards, monitoring performance and reviewing regulations.
Some may argue that the Branch is actually serving HKIE in its expansion, which may be true to an extent. However, holistically, we are building a strategic partnership and procuring for our members a ready path to professional recognition on a global scale. The next step is for the IFE to negotiate for an RRA that will benefit our Engineering Council Division members. Members may be pleased to know that we ourselves have been receiving reciprocating applications from members of HKIE, and are expecting this to grow in time.
Our value in the world of professionals is judged by our ability to deliver the activities set out in our vision statement, and our strategy and business plans will help us ensure that we uphold those visions in order to remain professional and sustainable.
Charles Chu
FSDSM, CPM, BEng (Hons), CEng, FIFireE, FHKIE
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