Bulboacă & Asociații organized on Wednesday, October 10, 2018, the conference "Fire protection, essential for the safety of financial and real estate investments", an event addressed to banks and asset management companies.

The representatives of the most important financial and banking institutions in Romania as well as the asset management companies attended an interactive debate, the main topics approached being related to the fire safety, technical aspects and obligations in the operation of the building, risks and accountability, emphasizing on prevention and specific means of risk management.

The partners of the event were Gleeds România and ROFMA  – Romanian Facility Management Association.

Statistics, at national level, on fire and civil protection authorisations and permits over the past three years were provided, together with the risks and types of liability, risks of injury recovery from contractors and / or insurers, as well as observations and trends in the field of fire safety - important issues for financial and banking institutions, especially for their real estate investment representatives.

It has been noticed that the total number of fire and civil protection authorisations and permits issued in 2017 dropped by around 19%, compared to 2016 figures. This decrease might be justified by the very high number of authorisations and permits issued in 2016, in the aftermath of the Colectiv case. An interesting note is that many applications for authorisations and permits, i.e. 48% nationally, were rejected.

Regretful events at national and international level have taught us some lessons about the increased importance that should be given to monitoring technical aspects, maintenance of fire protection and fire extinguishing equipment, and full training of end users of buildings.

When banking institutions finance a project with an important building component, investment security is a decisive subject. At the same time, in their capacity as users and property operators, these institutions attach greater interest to fire safety aspects, given the need to ultimately protect the safety of bank data.

The first step towards risk management is to raise awareness. Prevention is naturally the next and most important step, and the preventive approach must be disseminated at all levels, from decision-makers, management, control, to the most inexperienced user of a building.

Fire prevention and protection is therefore a priority for companies and institutions, as well as for the authorities appointed to ensure the relevant control and authorisation. This is certainly a joint effort of accountability that, once intensified, will significantly reduce the incidence of fire.