Annual Conference 2022 – Kilkenny
FIRE AWAY
With most health restrictions lifted, I am delighted and very proud to be hosting the Chief Fire Officers’ Association Annual Conference in Kilkenny on the 4th & 5th May 2022.This will be the 63rd Chief Fire Officers’ Annual Conference and it is the third occasion that it has been hosted in the County, the previous year’s being in 1967 and 1981.
It has been a difficult 3 years for everyone since our last conference and this should be a great opportunity to meet up with old friends and visit Kilkenny.
I would like to extend a warm welcome to all Delegates, Trade Exhibitors, Speakers and Guests from Ireland and overseas to Kilkenny to our annual Conference.
This year’s conference brings together leading speakers, all of them very experienced in their own discipline, from both within and outside the Fire Service community to share their expert views.
You may be wondering why it is called Fire Away, Fire Away is defined “if someone wants to say or ask something, you can say “fire away” as a way of showing that you are ready for them to speak.” Thus, encouraging debate and discussion with the speakers and exhibitors. Less subtle and playing with the words “keep” Fire Away touches on fire safety/prevention talks and trade equipment and again “Some” Fire Away touches on a fire incident in UK which one of our speakers will be covering.
I hope that the conference will afford delegates, speakers, manufacturers and trade representative to engage with each other by asking questions and debating (1) current and future technology to assist the Fire and Rescue service in serving our communities, (2) looking at strategy for dealing with current issues and in the preparation of future issues and (3) Leadership development in Fire Service delivery. This will be facilitated by speakers from The Nederlands, Belgium, England and Ireland who will share their experiences.
The Fire Technology Exhibition will afford an opportunity for manufacturers and trade representatives to outline current and future trends in the manufacturing of Fire Service equipment. It will also give the Trade an opportunity to hear the requirements of the Fire Service.
A special word of thanks to Exhibitors, Sponsors and Advertisers for their continued support for the Conference.
I would like to thank the Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council, Ms. Colette Byrne, for her support for the Conference and to especially acknowledge the huge commitment of Kilkenny Fire and Rescue Service staff in assisting the CFOA in hosting this year’s Conference.
I hope that all attending the Conference will find it engaging and beneficial and will have fond memories of your stay in Kilkenny.
John Collins, BE CEng MIEI
Chief Fire Officer,
CFOA Conference Secretary 2022.
Papers
Shantha Dickinson How do you fight a fire you cant (002)
Recruitment and retention of volunteer fire fighters_Karin Dangermond
DAY 1 – at 14-45hrs Tech Talk 2 SafeLinc CFOA version for IS standards (002)
DAY 2 – at 10-10hrs – Strategic overview of the fire services in Ireland JMC
DAY 2 – at 14-00hrs – Strategic planning for stress -CISM- Patricia Murray
DAY 2 – at 14-45hrs – Leadership in the fire service Mark Hardingham
Smart Fire Service in a Smart City
Gallery
Accommodation
Please contact the Lyrath Estate Hotel for accommodation and special rates at https://www.lyrath.com/
Program
Conference Program CFOA 2022 -Continuing Professional DevelopmentDelegate Form
Delegate FormSpeakers
(Click on a speakers name for bio)
Karin Dangermond MSc MA is a researcher at Netherlands Institute for Public Safety and a PhD student at the University of Humanistic Studies, The Netherlands. Her work focuses on the human side of the fire service. Important topics are leadership, organization and culture of the fire service, and recruitment and retainment of non-career firefighters. She is currently completing her doctoral research into the role of fire service culture in coping with critical incidents.
Senior Organisational Psychologist/Inspector, HSA
Patricia is the professional Work and Organisational Psychologist at the Health and Safety Authority with responsibility for the psychological safety, health and wellbeing aspects of the Programme of Work. She was the first incumbent into the newly developed role in the Authority 23 years ago. Patricia developed and designed the stress and bullying programme areas and led HSA initiatives for the improvement of workplace systems for increased employee well-being, stress reduction, bullying resolution, mental health promotion and increased safety behaviour, using evidence-based insights.
She provides expertise on behalf of the HSA, to various national and EU bodies on Organisational psychology topics. Patricia is a long time occasional lecturer on related post-graduate courses in UCD, Trinity College and UCC. She is an accredited and qualified mediator, coach, analyst and psychometric assessment practitioner.
Susan HayesCulleton, CFA, “The Positive Economist” is Managing Director of the Hayes Culleton Group, with clients across Europe and the USA. The businesses include BECKSearch which facilitates active peer learning and #SavvyTeenAcademy which manages the entire experience of teenage work experiences in corporate organisations. The company also provides training, speaking and content development services, in the subject areas of the financial markets, economics and entrepreneurship. Susan has twice co-authored “Positive Economics”, the market-leading Leaving Cert economics textbook in Ireland, and she is the author of two books published by Penguin, The “Savvy Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom” and “The Savvy Guide to Making More Money”.
Susan is co-founder of The Positive Economist, Associate Lecturer at Ulster University, host of the “Fantastic Female Fridays” YouTube show and presenter of the Savvy Women Online podcast. She serves on the boards of the Irish International Business Network and the Ireland Hong Kong Business Forum. Susan holds a Chartered Financial Analyst charter, MSc Executive Leadership, BSc Financial Maths and Economics and a Diploma in Taxation.
Twitter:@SusanHayes_
FaceBook:www.facebook.com/ThePositiveEconomist
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/thepositiveeconomist/
Instagram: @SusanThePositiveEconomist
Celina originally trained as a Counselling Psychologist before joining Dublin Fire Brigade as a Firefighter/Paramedic in 1994. During her ten years with Dublin Fire Brigade she worked primarily in Tara Street and Dolphins Barn Stations while also studying for her Engineering Degree with the Open University. In 2004 she joined the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government as an Assistant Fire Adviser. During her time in the Department she worked on the development of the Framework for Major Emergency Management and then lead the Project Team tasked with the implementation of the Framework in the local authority sector. She completed a Masters in Emergency Management at DCU in 2009 and in 2010 she left the Department to take up the position of Chief Fire Officer with Kildare County Council, where she currently works.
John McCarthy is a former civil servant of some 35 years’ experience. He was Secretary General of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government, subsequently reconfigured as the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, for over 6 years until June 2020. Prior to this, he served as Assistant Secretary leading the Department’s Local Government, Environment and Housing Divisions for various periods of time, having joined the Department in 1991 after previously working in a number of other Departments, including the Department of Social Protection and the Central Statistics Office.
He also previously served as co-Chair of the Project Ireland 2040 Delivery Board and as a member of the National Economic and Social Council and the Top-Level Appointments Committee. He is currently involved in a number of public sector assignments, including serving as Chair of the Management Board of the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management. He has a primary degree and a postgraduate diploma in management and a Master’s degree in Public Administration.
Shantha was appointed as Deputy Chief Fire Officer in June 2021 and is responsible for the Planning, Performance and Assurance functions for the Service. Her teams cover a wide portfolio of activity including, strategic risk planning, policy development, operational and organisational assurance and performance and communications and insight. The Directorate teams work together to understand risk in our communities and how the Service can deliver activity that makes a positive difference for every community we serve.
Beginning her career in the British Army, Shantha served ten years as an Officer after graduating from The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, serving overseas in military campaigns. She joined the Service in 2014 as Head of Knowledge Management before taking up the appointment as Assistant Chief Fire Officer in November 2016 and joining the Strategic Command team.
In April 2018 she took up the position of Director of Performance and Assurance, where she was responsible for leading the organisational learning capability for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Services. Shantha was selected for the National Leadership Centre Accelerate Programme in 2020 and most recently is an alumna of the Windsor Leadership Programme.
Shantha is the Strategic Lead in the NFCC for The Fire Fighters Charity. When not at work she enjoys trail running, exploring the local countryside with her family and baking.
Bert Brugghemans is the Chief Fire Officer for the Antwerp Fire Service. He is leading the Antwerp Fire Service and the 750 professional firefighters since 2017 and is responsible for fire response and community safety in Antwerp metropolitan area and the port of Antwerp. Bert is also Belgians Public Leader of the Year (2021).
Before Bert became the Chief Fire Officer, he was active within the Antwerp Fire Service as Duty Officer and Chief of Operations. He was responsible as change manager during the recent reform of the Fire Regions. Bert is an active member of the board of the Provincial School for Emergency Services and of the Flemish Association of Fire Regions.
Bert is a Master in Management (University of Leuven, 2006) and a Master in Public Management (Antwerp Management School, 2017). He holds a postgraduate degree in Operations Management (University of Leuven, 2007) and in Disaster Management (Antwerp University, 2013).
Bert co-authored several academic publications on the topic of Crisis Leadership and Management and is co-author of different books on crisis management.
Mark is chair of National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC). He began his Fire and Rescue Service career 30 years ago in Essex. He was appointed as the Deputy Chief Fire Officer in Suffolk in 2010, before taking up the role of Chief Fire Officer and County Council Executive Director in 2013. Mark has also led peer challenges across five FRS.
Chairing NFCC’s Protection & Business Safety Committee between 2017 and 2020, Mark ensured NFCC took a national leadership role with government, working closely with ministers, civil servants, devolved administrations, the inspectorate and many other partners in the wider Building Safety Programme.
Maeve O’Loughlin is the Global Safety Improvement Lead at AP Moller Maersk, the global logistics company integrating ocean and landside logistics. Her background is in Health, Safety and Sustainability in High-Risk Industries, Academia and Consulting in Ireland and the UK. She is a chartered member of IOSH and member of the IOSH Performance and Development Governance Committee.
She joined Maersk’s Global Safety and Resilience Team in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2019 to drive their safety transformation in line with adaptive safety and human performance principles to reorient from a reactive, compliance-based culture towards a proactive, relationship-based culture for safety and resilience.
Brian Cody has been the manager of the Kilkenny senior hurling team since 1998, where he has since become the county’s longest-serving manager and most successful in terms of major titles won. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager in the history of the game. He tasted success as a player and as a manager he has rewritten the record books. Under his direction, he has steered Kilkenny to 11 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship titles, 10 National Hurling League titles and 17 Leinster Senior Hurling Championship titles. Brian worked as a teacher at St. Patrick’s De La Salle national school in Kilkenny, before serving as principal between 2009 and 2015. He also has an Honorary Doctorate from University College Cork
Brian Cody knows all about building and managing successful teams, what it takes to be a true leader and how to successfully motivate and inspire a team to win again and again.