Dear members,
Fire Australia's over for another year, and it was great to
meet our members in-person, many for the first time.
I greatly enjoyed my first conference and personally think
that it was a very informative Conference program and an impressive
Tradeshow, showcasing the best ideas, products, and solutions for
the fire protection sector.
We certainly had some attention-grabbing topics - former
Deputy Coroner Hugh Dillon talking about compliance versus safety
attitudes; demographer Bernard Salt describing the work-life
balance of the future; workshops on skills, women in fire, mental
health, and the value of fire; presentations on the future of the
industry, liability and insurance, developments with regulation and
standards, the risks of electric vehicles, sustainability concerns,
and the perspective of firefighters; and technical sessions on
bushfire housing, sprinklers, megastructures, defects,
certification, interfaces, and high hazard spaces; and
more.
And we've got lots of ideas on how we can do even better
next year!
But that's only my perspective - we sent out a survey last
week to delegates and exhibitors to ascertain their views, and I'd
encourage all attendees to provide their feedback to make the event
even better.
Next year's event will be returning to the International
Conference and Convention Centre in Sydney's Darling Harbour, and
we've already been thinking about what changes we want to make to
improve participants' experience of the Conference and
Tradeshow.
Your feedback will go a long way to help us to plan an
amazing event for 2023.
Getting your views
Talking about surveys, we have a few opportunities for you
to share your perspectives on the future of the Association,
solutions for the skills gap, and ways to improve gender diversity
in the industry.
The first is a
FPA Australia Member Survey, which is part of our
strategy development process.
The purpose of the survey is to gain insights from members
and practitioners, which will inform and contribute to our next
strategic plan.
The survey should take about 3-4 minutes to complete, and
respondents who provide their email address by 30 May, 2022, will
go into the draw to win an iPad.
Thank you in advance for completing this survey and
contributing to the future direction of FPA
Australia.
The second survey was submitted to participants in one of
the workshops at Fire Australia 2022: An industry of
choice: how to attract the practitioners of the
future.
This session looked at the ageing industry and the urgent
need to replace current practitioners as they begin to
retire.
Through the discussion and the survey, we are seeking ideas
to increase the opportunities provided our sector and introduce the
pathways that will create a readily available workforce for the
future.
The final survey was also used in a workshop at Fire
Australia 2022: Turning words into
action: A 2030 plan for Women in
Fire.
This discussion examined the gender diversity issues faced
by our industry and sought solutions to encourage more women into
fire protection.
The outcomes of this survey will be used to develop a plan
for the future, and collate ideas on how to improve the
participation of women in our sector.
These surveys will be open for responses until COB
on Monday, 30 May, 2022.
As you can see, we've undertaking a lot of work to improve
the outlook of the Association for coming years and to ensure that
it remains viable and successful.
As members, your input is vital, so that we can be sure that
all of our activities are directed towards a strong and productive
future for the fire protection industry.
We'd love to hear your views!
All the best!
John Kilgour
CEO