2021 Safety Award goes to Espace Mobilité

On the occasion of the General Assembly 2022 of the VBSF beginning of May 4, 2022 in Basel, the awarding of the Safety Award 2021 was also on the agenda. Of the eight entries submitted, one stood out in particular: Thomas Schaumberg, Christian Aumayer and Gianluca De Sanctis from Espace Mobilité were awarded the 2021 Safety Prize by jury president Cecile Maire for their contribution "Person densities and escape route requirements in retail stores".

Holistic approach to densities of people in retail stores

Espace Mobilité is an interest group of the retail trade, which is predominantly active in the fields of spatial planning and transport policy. Through the data collection, it could be shown, among other things, that the current person densities of the fire protection guidelines are never or only very rarely reached. The use category of the retail store also has a major influence on the density of people. The Study also showed that risk-based considerations with engineering methods allow for a holistic assessment of personnel safety and thus great relief in prescriptive regulations can be achieved while at the same time ensuring personnel safety.

Emergency Ventilation Box for Infants and Toddlers

A recognition award went to the company Neo Rescue for the invention of the so-called Lifebox. The basic idea is based on a positive pressure system. Within this closed system, infants are supplied with breathing air for 45 minutes during an evacuation. This protects them for a wide variety of emergencies, such as fires or gas leaks. "During an event in 2015, it was discovered that the fire department had no tools to evacuate infants, toddlers or premature babies through contaminated ambient air," says NeoRescue CEO David Seilinger. No medical expertise is required to use the Lifebox.

The next Safety Award will be presented at the 2024 General Assembly. Entries must be submitted to the president of the jury by November 1, 2023. are available.

Source: VBSF