The project aims to bring reassurance to people across the world that the buildings and infrastructure they use follows the best worldwide expertise on fire safety.

RICS, which is chairing the development of the International Fire Safety Standard, is inviting experts to help shape the standard through a global consultation in an effort which is being supported by the United Nations and World Bank.

This follows previous RICS work to bring consistency to the standards people can expect globally across property, construction and valuation.

Says TC Chetty, South Africa Country Manager for RICS: “Various incidents of fire safety non-compliance, resulting in tragic consequences, have raised questions about the safety and compliance of South African buildings, and highlighted the importance of clear fire safety standards and ensuring compliance with such standards. The International Fire Safety Standard will ensure occupier safety by providing landlords with clear fire safety standards for building design and management while also providing occupiers with a means of holding landlords and building owners accountable when it comes to fire safety.”

Through the global consultation process, it is hoped that a uniform set of principles can be created for countries to adopt. RICS leadership in this initiative underlines the profession’s commitment to creating safer built environments for people around the world.

Comments Gary Strong, Chair of the International Fire Safety Standards Coalition and Global Building Standards Director at RICS: “Fire knows no geographical or political boundaries, and along with this, the differing approaches to buildings fire safety across the globe can be inconsistent, ineffective and in some cases, non-existent. There is an urgent need to deliver better safety for people’s homes, communities and workplaces and RICS is committed to being at the heart of this.

“This project has brought together wide-ranging global expertise and attracted the support of the United Nations and World Bank. I now encourage experts to engage with this consultation to help us deliver the best possible fire safety standard for the environments we all inhabit.”

The International Fire Safety Standards will be open for global consultation until 23 March 2020 with the final international standard to be published later this year.