How the pandemic has impacted fire prevention

The pandemic has had a huge impact on industries across the board – even on those that wouldn’t spring to mind initially. One would think that fire prevention wouldn’t really have been impacted, but that is far from being the case.

“The pandemic has made us globally very aware of prevention, and the requirements and needs for prevention,” says Brenda Doern, Health & Safety Manager, Classic Fire + Life Safety. “Because obviously, COVID has put us in a reactive state, not a proactive state, and I think that we don’t want to find ourselves in a reactive state again.”

She says that she has seen a “significant” increase in client participation in their own safety needs, because they don’t want to be caught unaware regardless of the issue.

Doern has been in the construction industry – and in particular fire prevention – for 29 years. 23 of those years were as an owner of a fire protection company

Having started her career almost three decades ago, she says that when she started in the industry “women were few and far between.” And as owner of a business, Doern says that she didn’t have any mentors that were women in this industry. This has very much changed now, thankfully.

Doern says that being in the field is extremely rewarding because it’s an essential service. “My advice to anyone starting in this industry would be to absolutely go for it.” And for those wishing to build strong leadership skills in the field, she says that “authenticity is probably the most important quality of any leader – safety or otherwise.” Relationships at work are built on trust and communication, she says.

When it comes to fire prevention, “typically heroes are seen as firefighters, and it’s well deserved, but I think that unsung heroes are the people who I work with. There needs to be more recognition and visibility,” especially for those on the prevention side.

She says that her favourite part of the job is “engaging in the corporate body, from leadership down to new hires. You develop personal relationships with everyone.” And it’s not a small company! Doern is developing relationships with around 600 people – “it’s been very rewarding,” though on the flip side it can be tough to maintain so many relationships.

“I think that people ultimately want to be seen and heard, and I think one of the strengths and key strategies in being effective is seeing and hearing people,” says Doern. “And seeing and hearing 600 people can be challenging and rewarding.”