Improving Fire Safety in Bangladesh Garment Factories

When
December 10, 2015
11:45 AM - 2:00 PM
Location
Merrick HQ - Greenwood Village, CO

Registration

Members Registration Rate – $25.00
This is the rate for SFPE-RMC "Full" and "Chapter" members to attend this meeting.
Members-prepaid (for RSVP count)
This registration type is for pre-paid "Chapter Friends" or "Chapter Members" who prepaid for all meetings with their membership payment for the year.
Non-Member Registration Rate – $30.00
This is the rate for attendees who are not members of SFPE-RMC. [Note that membership in the Chapter is only $25 for the year ($15 for SFPE Society members). If you plan to attend more than one Chapter meeting, Chapter Membership pays for itself quickly!]
Student
College-aged students who are currently enrolled in a Bachelors or Masters degree program, who are interested in the profession of Fire Protection Engineering.

Registration is closed

In 2013, the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory brought worldwide attention to the conditions of garment factories in Bangladesh. The result was the formation of several non-profit coalitions aimed at improving safety conditions for garment workers in Bangladesh. As a part of that effort, Jensen Hughes was tasked with evaluating the fire and life safety conditions of more than 1,200 garment factories. In 2014, Julie Buffam spent 6 weeks in Bangladesh performing these fire and life safety inspections. The goal of the surveys was to document existing conditions, identify major fire and life safety hazards, and provide recommendations for rectifying such hazards. Julie’s presentation will cover historical tragedies involving Bangladesh garment factories, existing fire and life safety conditions of the factories, and the steps being taken to avoid future tragedies.

PRESENTER

Julie Buffam, P.E. w/ JensenHughes

Julie Buffam is a registered fire protection engineer originally from Massachusetts where she earned a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), followed by a Master's degree in Fire Protection Engineering, also at WPI. Upon completion of the Master’s program, Julie spent roughly two years at Engineering Planning and Management (EPM) where she provided fire protection engineering consulting services to nuclear power plants. Her responsibilities largely involved performing fire hazard analyses at the Bruce Energy plant in Ontario. Julie has been with the Jensen Hughes Denver office for four years now. Her project portfolio includes design services for fire suppression systems, fire alarm systems, mass notification systems, and smoke control systems. Julie also provides fire and life safety code consulting services for renovations and new building designs. Sectors served include the Department of Defense, health care, education, and commercial high rise buildings.