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Tributes for a ‘special one’ |
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FBU Fire Safety Advisor Glyn Evans is retiring from duty after over 30 years in the Fire and Rescue Service. FIRE has received numerousand varied tributes
Jon O’Neill, Managing Director, Fire Protection Association As far as Glyn is concerned, what can I say? I wish him all the very best for a long and happy retirement. However, his depth of knowledge, experience, enthusiasm and his well balanced reasoning will be missed on the numerous advisory committees on which he has served. I cannot think of any one individual who, during the decade or so that I have been involved, has shown a greater commitment to improving fire safety in the UK. Oh, and he always buys his round.
Dave Berry, Ex HMI Fire Safety Engineering and Fire Safety Standards I would describe Glyn as knowledgeable, hugely likeable, tough (when needed), pragmatic and honest. However, that is totally inadequate to do justice to an individual who has been both an innovator and a guardian of core values. He has been both a joy to work with when on the same side of the table (which is most of the time) and a respected opponent on those rare occasions when views differ. Finally, he is an individual who has, on a personal basis, proven himself to be true friend. Glyn was a very public figure in fire safety circles but he did far more ‘under the surface’ to promote fire safety in the built environment, and in particular the expertise and role of the Fire and Rescue Service. His contribution to the development of fire safety in general, and fire safety standards in particular, has been second to none, and in his retirement his expertise will be missed by all concerned but particularly the Fire and Rescue Service.
Graham Ellicott, Chief Executive Officer, Fire Industry Association Ltd
I cannot recall my actual first meeting with Glyn Evans but one thing marks out all of my dealings with him, and that is the way that he is received by his peers in the business. When Glyn speaks people listen, and that’s because he talks with authority and the quiet calm of experience. The authority is born out of his knowledge of the subject and that I believe is respected by all that have the sense to listen and consider his comments. Personally, Glyn has given me much pragmatic help over the last five years and for this I would like to add my thanks to what I’m sure is a long line of other recipients of his aid. My selfish concern for the future is who I will now go to for a ‘steer’ on the events at hand! He will be missed.
Matt Wrack, General Secretary FBU Glyn Evans has made an outstanding contribution to the Fire and Rescue Service and his contribution will be missed by both the Fire Brigades Union and, I am sure, by everyone else he has worked with. Glyn has contributed a technical knowledge and understanding across a range of Fire Service matters which is unmatched in the UK. In this role, he has made a huge contribution to developing policy and guidance for the Service. But Glyn was always additionally motivated by a deep respect and affection for the firefighters on the ground who deliver the service and implement those policies.
Pamela Castle OBE, Chair, Business and Community Safety Forum I would like to thank Glyn profusely for his very knowledgeable and enthusiastic contributions both to the Fire Safety Advisory Board and the Business and Community Safety Forum. He has become a good friend and he will be sorely missed.
Mike Wood, Chair of Fire Safety Development Group (FSDG) Glyn has always provided invaluable advice and support while I’ve chaired the FSDG, and I know my predecessors appreciated his expertise too. He has been a determined proponent of a balanced and reasoned approach to fire safety, bridging divides in the fire industry when they emerge and working to make buildings better and truly safer. Above all, Glyn has always been ready, without fail, to listen and offer well chosen and constructive comment in a friendly way. That is a rare quality and it is particularly appreciated. So Glyn fully deserves his retirement, but let’s hope he does not leave the fire safety scene altogether.
Michael Clapham MP, Joint Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group, and Lord Keith Brookman, Vice Chairman Glyn Evans has served the Fire Brigades Union and the British fire and rescue services superbly for more than 30 years. Members of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group have frequently benefited from his excellent, practical knowledge which over the years has helped win many campaigns to improve fire safety in the UK.
Sir Ken Knight, London Fire Commissioner, Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser Glyn has been at the very heart of the ‘fire safety’ agenda for many years, willingly sharing the platform with key stakeholders on shaping the role of the Fire and Rescue Service and informing government policy. His technical understanding of the key issues of risk-based fire safety is among the best in the country, as is his valuable import into the Business and Community Safety Forum on behalf of the TUC.
Professor Rosemarie Everton, Chair, Fire Safety Law I have always found Glynn to be constructive and helpful, often as a ‘critical friend’. He will prove to be a really hard act to follow.
To have worked with Glyn has been a privilege. I have long valued his willingness to share the depth of his knowledge of the working of fire safety law. But there is more: there is his integrity and his loyalty to his subject. He has been and remains a true friend to the fire world, and to me.
Mike Fordham
Put your hand in a bucket of water, take it out and the hole that is left is the amount you will be missed. Not true in the case of Glyn Evans, my little fat friend from West Brom! Every now and again the Fire and Rescue service is lucky enough to be blessed with the presence of a ‘special one’ and Glyn is one of those. As the Fire Brigades Union’s Fire Safety Advisor he has been, over many years, one of the single greatest influences on fire safety matters in the UK. More importantly he has championed the concept of a partnership approach as the progressive way forward. I first knew Glyn when he was a Regional Officer Representative for the FBU and a Station Officer in the West Midlands Fire Service. Like the vast majority of union officials he loved the Service he had joined, but believed much more could be achieved.
Further promotion was mistakenly denied him but his election to the Union’s Executive Council provided him with the platform to pursue his core belief, that the interests of those working within the Service and the safety of the communities they served, were not mutually exclusive. It was never the easiest of tasks to place fire safety matters on the policy agenda but Glyn never shirked from working to make sure that the government, employers, senior managers and union officials did so. A role he continued when he ‘retired’ from the Service and became the FBU’s Fire Safety Adviser. Glyn is tactically and politically astute, but his deep held socialist beliefs never prevented him from working across political divides. He has been critical of attacks on the Fire Service and fire safety from wherever they have come. He has supported initiatives to enhance the Service and safety whoever the originator. He respected civil servants and they respected him. His networking skills were brilliant and his use of the ‘prawn cocktail circuit’ to thwart the Tory government plans to take fire safety enforcement from the Fire and Rescue Service, although not being healthy, was brilliant. Attention to detail was always Glyn’s greatest strength and when matched with his knowledge of the ‘art’, friend and foe alike were foolish to ignore his advice. Safety law in the UK has been significantly influenced by Glyn and far wider than the confines of the specific interests of the Fire and Rescue Service. His role in advising the TUC and other partners has left an indelible mark on public and worker safety.
His particular expertise though is without doubt fire safety. I will never forget his influence on the legislation, Fire Safety and Safety of Places of Sport Act 1987, which followed the tragedy of the Bradford City Fire. His briefing to Lord Mishcon, Labour Opposition spokesperson in the Lords, ensured that the government backed down in debate to allow an amendment through, drafted by Glyn, which significantly enhanced the legislation. Nor will I forget how his constant vigilance here and in Europe has prevented any weakening of the legislation on the safety of upholstered furniture. In both cases, this was legislation which had been brought forward by the tragic loss of many lives – tragedies that could and should have been avoided – as well as legislation that Glyn believed needed and deserved a better response from government. A purely reactive approach was never how Glyn saw fire safety law should be developed. His drafting of a ‘Fire Safety Bill’ for the union to champion was groundbreaking, as was his advice to use political advisers, and the now enacted Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order owes much to his vision – a vision, which he argued could only be fully delivered by a partnership approach to developing fire safety policy. The Fire Safety Advisory Board was to be the means of delivering that partnership, but sadly some others believed that the divide and rule approach Glyn had dedicated himself to defeating, served their self interests better.
Much of my partnership with Glyn was developed on the fire safety agenda. For my part it was an easy partnership to form. I respect him. I like him. I trust him. His knowledge is second to none, and his advice I always value. It was not just on fire safety though that his advice was valued. The European Firefighters Charter, now being updated by EPSU, was drafted by Glyn, as is the revised version. Just like the way he strived to break down barriers in the UK by adopting a partnership approach, he did the same at an EU level. In chairing the meetings which formulated and agreed the charter, I saw firsthand the esteem in which his advice is held by firefighters throughout Europe.
Those who have been lucky enough to hear Glyn speak at a conference know that he always signs off by thanking the audience for listening. Well Glyn, we the audience want to thank you for talking and thereby making our lives better and safer. |
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