Presentation
The Slovenian Fire Protection Association / Slovensko združenje za požarno varstvo (SZPV) was established in 1993, by a group of individuals, representatives from companies and institutions, committed to work in the field of fire protection, with a goal to raise the level of fire safety. SZPV is a non-profit, non-governmental organization, with a status of the organization acting in the public interest on the national level.
Scope of work / main activities:
- cooperation with organizations (insurance companies, manufacturers of fire protection products in buildings, ministries, chambers of engineers, architects, of commerce and industry, fire service, other non-governmental organizations from different fields (voluntary fire brigades, of people with disabilities, tourism organizations, etc.)), and individuals (fire engineers, etc.) and others working in the field of fire protection in Slovenia and abroad;
- organization of conferences, seminars, workshops, training courses and other forms of education and training;
- taking part in the preparation of technical regulations and standards on the national level;
- preparation of guidelines and recommendations (see the list below);
- publishing magazine Požar (Fire), 4 issues per year, regularly since 1995;
- preparing guidelines for ministries;
- cooperation with other associations in Slovenia;
- cooperation with other associations in Europe (SZPV is a member of CFPA-E and ECEUFIRE) and around the world (SZPV is an associated member of CFPA International).
List of SZPV guidelines (published on the website www.szpv.si in Slovene language):
- 204/2010 Building separation and boundary distances,
- 206/2017 Access for fire appliances,
- 405-1/2010 Smoke ventilation systems – natural ventilation,
- 405-2/2010 Smoke ventilation systems in staircases – natural ventilation,
- 407/2012 Fire safety planning, installation and use of combustion appliances, flues and chimneys,
- 408/2008 Protection of openings that penetrate fire rated elements,
- 411/2012 Electrically controlled emergency escape exit devices,
- 412/2012 Use of combustible/non-combustible building materials,
- 413/2017 Requirements for power operated pedestrian doors on evacuation routes,
- 511/2003 Combustible gas detection systems,
- 512/2016 Fire Safety of Photovoltaic Systems in Buildings.
SZPV prepared some guidelines in cooperation with CFPA-E, published in Slovene language (SZPV-CFPA-E: 2002: Panic & Emergency exit devices, and CFPA-E guideline no. 30:2013 F Managing Fire Safety in Historic Buildings). SZPV also translated CFPA-E guideline no. 12:2013 F Fire safety basics for hot work operatives. Most of SZPV guidelines are incorporated in system of national technical regulation.
Organization of SZPV is defined in the Statute, in compliance with Non-governmental Organizations Act:
- The General Assembly is the highest body of SZPV. It consists of all association members (215 end of 2019). The General Assembly meeting is organized at least once per year.
Management Board with 7 voting members (president (official association representative) + vice-president + 5 members) is the executive body of the Association and is elected by General Assembly.
- There are 2 employees in the SZPV Professional Service (Secretary General and Project Manager), implementing decisions made by Management Board and 6 independent contractors (editor of the magazine Požar and primary trainers).
- Supervisory Board supervises the work of Management board.
- Honorary Tribunal provides ethical support and decides regarding violations of the code of ethics, the statute and other acts of the Association.
A lot of work is done by members on voluntary basis, since there is no regular income by the state.
SZPV started to work on European projects in 2017. We are currently running two European projects: INCLUSIVE EMERGENCY (ERASMUS+ project with leading partner from Denmark, ending in 2021) and FIREEXPERT (Interreg Slovenia-Austria project with leading partner from Austria, ending in 2020). We have finished with FIRESKILLS project (ERASMUS+ project with leading partner from Turkey) in 2019. More about European projects can be found here.