davidcharterThe Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE) has awarded its 2013 Arthur B. Guise Medal to former International President of the Institution of Fire Engineers, David A. Charters.

Charters is currently Director of Fire Engineering at BRE Global, having held the role of IFE International President in 2005/06.

One of SFPEs most prestigious awards, the Arthur B. Guise Medal recognises eminent achievement in the advancement of the science and technology of fire protection engineering and is named in memory of the achievements of Arthur Guise, who singularly developed dry chemicals for use as fire extinguishing agents.

“The award was presented to Charters for being a leader in the research and application of fire risk assessment methodologies in the built environment,” said SFPE Engineering Program Manager Chris Jelenewicz. “He was also recognized for being the coauthor of the book ‘Quantitative Risk Assessment in Fire Safety.”

As Director of Fire Engineering at BRE Global (incorporating the Fire Research Station) Charters has undertaken reviews of a number of project fire strategies as well as research for the UK Government, including the emergency use of lifts and escalators for emergency evacuation from tall buildings and underground complexes.

Charters has over 25 years of fire safety experience and has contributed papers to many International Conferences on fire safety engineering and in 2003 he was appointed Visiting Professor in Fire Risk Analysis at the University of Ulster and subsequently also at the University of Leeds. Since 2001 he has chaired the British Standards Committee on Fire Engineering.

In 1994, Charters was awarded a PhD in Fire Growth and Smoke Movement from the University of Leeds. In 1989 and 1990, he was also responsible for the quantitative fire risk assessments of the means of escape from London Underground stations following the King’s Cross fire and fire and explosion risk assessment for Tartan Alpha following the Piper Alpha disaster.