Human resources

摘要

The Emergence of fire safety engineering as a profession and the increasing use of performance-based design has meant that human behaviour in fire is becoming a fertile area of research. Studying the reactions of people in different fire scenarios can be used to help develop new fire safety engineering tools, such as decision-making models for use in different evacuation scenarios. However, fire engineering research, which not only covers human behaviour but also structural fire engineering and materials' performance, tends to be fragmented, and there is a need for coherent research strategies and work programmes. This was the issue discussed at a workshop organised by the Human Behaviour in Fire Network (HUBFIN), a group sponsored by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). The event, held at the University of Greenwich, London, on 19 August 2003, brought together academics, engineers and managers in industry, who debated whether fire safety is being compromised by lack of knowledge of human behaviour in fire and how to better coordinate research in this area.