Why is fire prevention suddenly so hot?

Fire prevention is hot, that joke needed to get out. But fair's fair: the world is on fire, and by now that's reason enough to embrace digitization. Housing shortage is one. Staff shortages are one. Failure costs are one. And fire prevention is definitely one, too.

This is precisely why I want to talk about Compact Fire Prevention this time. Not because I want to advertise a supplier, but because for me this is an example of how a good subcontractor holds a mirror up to the chain.

About ten years ago Wim Woermeijer showed me tooling that immediately stuck with me. Not because I thought: what beautiful software. But because I thought: finally someone who dares to say exactly what he minimally needs to do a good job.

And therein lies the whole lesson. Digitization gains real value only when a specialist makes his minimum information needs explicit. Not vaguely. Not in a footnote. Not only when the misery is already visible on construction. But in advance. Clear. Testable.

Fire seals and clashes

This is also reflected in their approach. They profile themselves as specialists in structural fire prevention, explicitly using BIM and proprietary software products and services. Their Orange Button software is aimed at designing fire seals in BIM, identifying clashes and making the design and preparation process smarter.

They themselves describe having BIM files supplied, checking them for missing information, and only then continuing to engineer toward fire-resistant seals and execution. (compactbrandpreventie.nl)

Put specialists in their power

See, that's mature. Not shouting that digitalization is important, but saying: this is the minimum I have to get from you, otherwise I can't do my job properly. And exactly there you see the discomfort in the chain. Because the 'Orange Button software' can already do a lot. The logic is right. The specialist knows what he needs. Only then it turns out that many consultants have trouble delivering even that minimum correctly. So then you see two things at once:

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1. That minimum information requirement is crucial;

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2. The whole chain must come along, otherwise the specialist will still continue to do stupid work.

And that's exactly what's a shame, because we don't need specialists to manually find holes in other people's information. We need specialists to do specialist work. To see risks, give more targeted advice, design better solutions and add real quality.

So here you see how digitization can (semi)automate whole parts of work preparation, so that the stupid work becomes smaller and the substantive work more important. Their own positioning is also clear about this: find clashes faster, increase quality and reduce costs. (compactfireprevention.com)

BIMsentry

But then you have to start somewhere, and for me that starts with a gatekeeper. A simple entry check. A website or validation check that not only techies understand, but also project managers, work planners and directors. That's why I like to mention BIMsentry here: such an approachable entry check website helps to first test whether the data is at all complete enough to proceed. Not as a panacea, but as a digital validation bill. First check that the basics are correct, then automate smarter.

Because otherwise we will continue to employ highly skilled people to do work that really could have just been prevented. And that, to me, is the broader lesson. This example is not interesting because fire safety happens to be hot right now. It is interesting because it shows what the rest of the subcontracting world could look like as well. Less time spent on the stupid work. More time for the specialized work. Less manual fixing of what was wrong before. More targeted advice based on clear data.

Hip subcontractors

And then suddenly you see how digitization is helping us not only with housing shortages and lead times, but also with something very basic and urgent: safer construction. So Wim and other hip subcontractors: I'm going to ask you to respond to this.

Because as far as I'm concerned, this example shows how a subcontractor not only works smarter, but also challenges the rest of the chain to finally mature in information.

Filing moment

Too often in construction we still pretend that specialists are expensive mainly because of their hourly rate. But the real waste is usually elsewhere: specialists who should be doing specialist work, but waste their time fixing incomplete information from others. That's not just inefficient. That, especially when it comes to fire, is just playing with fire.

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