New Director of CFPA Europe

In order to expand and profit more from CFPA’s activities, CFPA Europe has appointed a Director to push activities forward. The new Director has four decades of experience within fire protection.

In the summer of 2016, Swedish Tommy Arvidsson will join CFPA Europe as new Director of the organization. And he is, indeed, a man with fire-DNA in his bones.

With a Master degree in Chemical Engineering, he started his fire safety career with Research Labaratory and then on to the Swedish OSHA. From 1983, he has worked with the Swedish Fire Protection Association (SFPA) and the related fire organization BRANDFORSK, in positions ranging from head of the technical department of SFPA, Director of BRANDFORSK, and the last 15 years as the Deputy Managing Director of SFPA. Since 2014, he has been the chairman of BRANDFORSK in Sweden.

– It has taken a while to find the absolute right Director candidate for CFPA Europe but we are very happy to welcome Tommy Arvidsson onboard the CFPA organization, says Jesper Ditlev, who is Chairman of CFPA Europe and CEO of Danish DBI.

A man of CFPA
Having worked for CFPA Europe for several years on top of his fire protection career in Sweden, Tommy Arvidsson represents a perfect profile for the new-established director position. Among other achievements, he was the one to start up the Guidelines Commission in 2001, of which he was the chairman until 2012. Moreover, he was the chairman of the work with CFPA Europe Natural Hazards from 2011 to 2013.

– Tommy Arvidsson knows CFPA from the very inside and also knows the CFPA professionals. Furthermore, he has the right spirit, is respected within the organization and will easily be able to adapt to the tasks related to the position, Jesper Ditlev says.

Goals of CFPA
According to Jesper Ditlev, the goals of CFPA Europe are clear: To professionalize the organization, expand activities, obtain more member organizations, and profit more from the activities. And that is, of course, exactly what Tommy Arvidsson will focus on in his new position.

– My work will connect to the strategy that the Management Committee presented at the CFPA Europe General Assembly in 2014, he says, and goes on to explain:

– We are now 16 CFPA member countries in Europe but within the coming years we would like to increase the number to more than 20 members. In addition, I would like more members to use the many guidelines and training courses produced by CFPA Europe more frequently. Besides, CFPA should have more collaboration with other organizations such as CTIF and FEU whom I want to endorse our guidelines and courses, he says.

Since 2014, Tommy Arvidsson has lived in Bangkok with his family where he has spent his time producing pineapples and helping two poor schools in the northeastern part of Thailand. In June 2016, he will move to Chester in England.