This presentation to 17th Plenary meeting was given at the start of the week by Prof G. Cox as a basis for discussion at the meeting.

Content of presentation

• summary of background
• consultation process
• Groupe des Sages report
• proposed new strategy
• proposed new structure
• actions required

Influences for change

TC 92 is facing a period of substantial change

• to its general future strategy & direction, largely due to the emergence of FSE and performance based regulation
• to use "proactive" project management - in response to new Directives from Geneva
• to greater use IT in document preparation and better communication

TMB decision May 1995

• Title changed from "Fire Tests on Building Materials, Components & Structures" to "Fire Safety"
• decision followed many years of debate in TAG 5 "Fire Tests"
• significant broadening of the TC 92's scope as result of the broader implications of work of SC3 & SC4

Recent history

• 1989 new Work Area on FSE proposed by DIN
• 1991 TMB agreed-AFNOR requested that title & scope of TC 92 be reviewed
• 1993 new proposed title: "Fire Safety (buildings)" but USA suggested removing "buildings"
• 1995 current title "Fire Safety" & scope approved

New Scope /1

Standardisation of the methods of assessing

• fire hazard and fire risk to life and to property;
• the contribution of design, materials, building materials, products and components to fire safety and methods of mitigating the fire hazards and fire risks by determining the performance and behaviour of these materials, products and components, as well as of buildings and structures.

New Scope /2

Excluded:

• materials and equipment already covered by other technical committees;
• fields covered by other ISO and IEC committees.

Resolution 225-Tokyo 1995 /1

• ISO/TC92 agrees to establish a task group with the following responsibilities:
• Development within 12 months of a 10 year strategy for TC92 which recognises its wider responsibility following the change in title and scope agreed by TMB in May 1995.

Resolution 225-Tokyo 1995 /2

• The group will consider implications of the TC's responsibility being extended beyond just test methods of buildings and building products and encompassing hazard analysis and risk assessment methodologies etc.

Resolution 225-Tokyo 1995 /3

• The group will consult widely within ISO and IEC to determine the TC's role and relationships with regional bodies such as CEN, CENELEC and organisations representing prenormative research such as CIB W14, RILEM; the professionals eg SFPE, which have an interest in fire safety engineering and its relationship with regulatory processes.

Resolution 225-Tokyo 1995 /4

• It should consider what role, if any, the TC has in areas other than buildings (eg tunnels, aircraft etc) and whether there needs to be new work on other issues.
• The group will recommend an appropriate structure in light of the envisaged future work programme of the TC

Resolution 225-Tokyo 1995 /5

• The task group is to be convened by Mr. Roux and he will, in consultation with the chairman of TC92, decide the membership (maximum 6) in light of the necessary expertise required to fulfil its given role

Resolution 225-Tokyo 1995 /6

• The report from the task group will be circulated to members of ISO/TC92 at the end of 1996 for detailed 5 months consultation within member countries. A final proposal will then be circulated 4 months before the next meeting of ISO/TC92, late 1997

TC 92 Chairman's questionnaire

• P & O members of TC 92 and liaison members
• committees in liaison with TC 92
• committees with possible interest in fire safety
• organisations with interest in fire safety but not in liaison
• regional standards bodies

Most common responses /1

• dissatisfaction with progress-too slow, WI's started without need, inadequate internal coordination
  Denmark, Finland, France, Korea, Norway, Poland, Sweden
• internal restructuring needed (move WG's, scrap SC's etc)
  Finland, France, Germany, Norway, UK, US, CIB W14

Most common responses /2

• restructure around (only) performance based solutions
  Finland, Germany, Norway, Japan, Sweden, UK, EC, CIB W14,SFPE
• no prenormative research
  Denmark, France, Germany

Most common responses /3

• more coordination needed across TC's-TC92 to take on coordination role-advise TMB on fire matters
  Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Poland, UK, US, CIB W14, EGOLF

Groupe des Sages

Chair: H Roux (US)
W Becker (Germany)
K Chartier-Richard (France)
A Ferguson (UK)
M Kokkala (Finland)
D Priest (US)
T Tanaka(Japan)
+Thomas & Cox (retiring and new TC 92 Chairs)

Groupe des Sages-timetable /1

• TC 92 Chairman's questionnaire circulated widely January 1996
• composition G des S agreed August 1996
• 3 meetings held Sept, Oct, Dec 1996
• Report (N812) issued February 1997 for comment by end May 1997

Groupe des Sages-timetable /2

• WG7 meetings October 1996, June 1997
• progress reported to ISO TC 21 in May 1997
• Proposals (N815) circulated June 1997

Conclusions from GdesS-1

• objectives of ISO TC92 are two-fold; to facilitate international trade and to improve fire safety,
• because of their regulatory importance, national bodies will not usually adopt ISO standards in their prescriptive codes although national standards will often be based on them,

Conclusions from GdesS-2

• it is in the establishment of equivalent fire safety for products or construction works using performance based approaches where ISO TC92 can offer appropriate standardisation,
• there is an important need for coordination across the fire committees within ISO and IEC (although IEC committees did not suggest this), and that TC92 should provide a common fire strategy to avoid duplication and inconsistency between standards,

Conclusions from GdesS-3

• new Work Items need to be subject to greater scrutiny than hitherto to ensure the market need and technical (as well as resource) viability,
• TC92/WG7 needs to be strengthened to both manage the work load and to review New Work Items. This would be facilitated by involvement of representatives of the product user and manufacturer community (probably other ISO or IEC TCs), regulators, the scientific community, and appropriate prenormative research bodies (eg CIB W14).

Conclusions from GdesS-4

• TC 92 should not involve itself in pre-normative research,
• a thorough review of the internal structure of TC 92 is required
• TC92 should be reorganised into two major subcommittees - one concerning products and one concerning buildings and structures, each involving on the one hand approval type tests and on the other risk and hazard analysis

ISO TC 92 Strategic Vision /1

• TC 92 will develop standards for use by industry and by regulators to facilitate international trade and to maintain and improve levels of fire safety worldwide

ISO TC 92 Strategic Vision /2

• its standards will,

    1. satisfy market need
    2. be timely
    3. be forward compatible

• the standards developed are intended to have universal acceptability and to be the "standards of choice"

ISO TC 92 Strategic Vision /3

• recognising the trend from prescriptive to performance-based regulation, TC 92 will seek to encourage a cohesive approach to standardisation on fire safety in close cooperation with other ISO & IEC TC's.
• it has (or needs to have) a total inclusive knowledge of fire but recognises that the inclusive knowledge of products lies with other TC's

Proposed mission for TC 92 /1

To provide standardisation of the methods of assessing fire hazard and risk to life and property worldwide for the purpose of promoting international trade and improving fire safety through:

• standardising methods which assess the performance under fire conditions of materials, products, components and elements of structure

Proposed mission for TC 92 /2

• standardising methods of risk and hazard assessment and mitigation
• standardising the procedures to be adopted in the application of Fire Safety and Fire Protection Engineering

Proposals for restructuring /1

• TC 92 be restructured into 2 subcommittees:
  "Fire Testing" & "Fire Engineering"
• new structure should service "status quo" but allow new tests to provide input to engineering methodologies

Proposals for restructuring /2

• TC 92/WG 7 be strengthened to provide peer review of state of art & market need for new WI's in advance of ballot
• add, on case-by-case basis, representatives of product manufacturer/user community*, regulator bodies & scientific community
• * most likely other ISO & IEC TC's

Proposed new structure for TC 92

Coordination and advisory group

• standing members will be:
  Chair ISO TC92, Chair SC's
  Chair IMO FP SC, Chair CIB W14,
  representative ISO TC 21
  
• invited members from ISO/IEC TC xy, IAFSS, "regulators"

Coordination and advisory group

Role is to:

• assist with coordination, planning, steering, assessing progress, updating strategic vision
• conduct peer review of market need & state of art of NWI's prior to ballot and assign to appropriate SC

Proposals for restructuring /3

• Structural change should be in place by January 1999 but should not prejudice existing work

Coordination

• TC 92 should take a lead in establishing coordination across ISO & IEC either through JTAG or through TMB direct
• Suggest joint meeting of fire committees in ISO & IEC-May 1998?

Some developments

• Following consultation process both SFPE & EGOLF have applied for and been awarded Class A liaison

Suggestion for this week /1

• we should consider whether to freeze work on "prescriptive" standards in 1999 and simply continue only their maintenance
• and concentrate our major efforts on producing standards for performance-based approaches-both tests supplying data and risk & hazard assessment methodologies

Suggestion for this week /2

• SC's consider the proposals for

    1. new strategy
    2. restructuring

• consider impact of any restructuring on work programme of the SC's
• identify those standards that are necessary for development over next ten years
• look at & comment on draft "web" page available on -
  http://www.bre.co.uk/iso

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