Report on the Seminar entitled “Performance-based Design and Use of Simulation as a Tool for Evacuation Safety Verification” by Professor Daniel Nilsson

On Monday, June 16, 2025, the JAFPE held a fire protection seminar (held in-person and remotely as a hybrid) with the title above, given by Professor Daniel Nilsson of the Department of Fire Protection Engineering at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. The seminar was followed by a lively Q&A session after a passionate lecture. A total of 56 people participated in the seminar.

In his lecture, Prof. Daniel Nilsson introduced himself, including the story of how he originally wanted to become a firefighter. In the first half of the lecture, he explained the basics of Performance-based design (PBD), introducing the idea of ​​risk analysis and the discussions being held at ISO TC92 SC4, and gave examples from New Zealand and Sweden.

In the second half of the lecture, he explained the cutting edge of evacuation research including evacuation experiments, the use of VR in evacuation research, and the use of simulation and BIM as evacuation safety verification tools. After the lecture, there was an active question and answer session with both in-person and remote participants. The photo shows the lecture (in-person meeting).

SFPE Chapter Excellence Award

Congratulations!

The Japan SFPE Chapter received a wonderful message from Ms. Eva Przygodzki, Chapter Engagement Manager of SFPE:

“On behalf of the SFPE Board of Directors, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and the Chapter for achieving the Silver Award for Chapter Excellence. This award celebrates your Chapter’s remarkable contributions to meeting the needs of its members and the Society.”

We thank all the chapter members and friends for their hard work and dedication which made our chapter recognized as excellent.

Call for Participation in Fire Protection Seminar

　　　　　　　　　　Board of Directors, Japan Association of Fire Protection Engineers

Dear Members,

Dr. Daniel Nilsson, who used to be Professor at Lund University, Sweden and currently Professor at the Department of Fire Engineering at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand is in Japan on sabbatical from April to the end of June. Professor Nilsson is a world-renowned researcher and educator in the area of evacuation safety research, and has been in contact with many researchers in Japan, including Professor Sano of Waseda University. He is also a leading figure in international activities such as IAFSS (International Association for Fire Safety Science), HBiF (Symposium on Human Behavior in Fire), and ISO TC92 SC4.

Therefore, taking this precious opportunity of his stay in Japan, we have asked Professor Nilsson to give a lecture on the subject of “Performance-based Design and the Use of Simulation as an Evacuation Safety Verification Tool” (tentative title) as a program of the Fire Protection Seminar of Japan Association of Fire Protection Engineers, and he graciously agreed. Then, we are pleased to announce that we have planned a Seminar on Fire Protection as follows. Please see below for details and how to register for this seminar.

~~~~~~~~  Details and how to register for this seminar  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Theme: (tentative title)

“Performance-based Design and the Use of Simulation as an Evacuation Safety Verification Tool”

Lecturer: Prof. Daniel Nilsson, Fire Engineering at the University of Canterbury

　　　[Profile] Wikipedia：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Nilsson_(academic)　

Date: Monday, June 16, 2025, 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Method: Held remotely (free of charge)

How to apply for participation:

If you wish to participate, please fill out the following form

and send it to the JAFPE Secretariat (info@jafpe.or.jp).

After confirming receipt of your application, we will send you

the URL to view the seminar.

Non-members of JAFPE are also welcome to participate.

The deadline for application is Friday, May 30.

(Information to be included in the application)

• Name:
• Affiliation:
• Email Address :
• Membership: Member / Non-member

 (Please indicate one or the other)

Case Study Participation Report of SFPE Fire Safety Conference & Expo on Performance-Based Design

The SFPE- SFPE Fire Safety Conference & Expo on Performance-Based Design was held in Copenhagen
from April 17th to 20th, and six members from Japan chapter participated to present case study. Three
different studies were presented this time: ① Worker Housing, ② Forest tower, and ③ Co-
living/working Facility. Japan and New Zealand tackled ①, Switzerland and the UK tackled ②, and
IMSFE (a joint team of several universities with fire protection departments) tackled ③. The Worker
Housing was a fire safety design for worker accommodation for development in undeveloped areas,
and the theme was how to design accommodation with high density while ensuring fire safety in an
environment where firefighting by firefighters cannot be expected. Japan’s proposal was unique,
combining fire resistant and semi fire-resistant materials as a construction material of wooden building
to control the collapse direction of the building in the event of a fire and as a result, achieve high
density. The New Zealand team also gave us a presentation with detailed considerations, and I think
the session as a whole was very substantial.
Just one day before the conference, a fire broke out in the old stock exchange building located very
close to the hotel where the conference was held, resulting in the collapse of the wooden roof
structure and spire, just like that of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. On the third day of the conference,
Copenhagen’s Fire Chief suddenly joined the conference and gave an emergency report presentation,
reporting on the status of the fire and firefighting activities. He also made a strong call for fire
protection engineers to do their utmost to prevent such a fire from happening again, which was met
with a round of applause from the entire audience.
Even with this unexpected turn of events, it was a very meaningful experience for the Japanese team.

Case study team of Japan                         Fire of old stock exchange building