Highlights of InToxFIRE's Second Workshop
InToxFIRE team successfully hosted its second international workshop, "The Journey of Contaminants: Connecting Fireground Exposures, PPE and Health Impacts," on 30 April 2026 at Carlton Hotel Dublin Airport, Ireland and Microsoft Teams webinar platform. The hybrid event brought together participants from academia, fire and rescue services, industry, standards organisations and professional bodies, with attendees joining in person and online globally to discuss the latest developments in firefighter contamination, exposure pathways, personal protective equipment (PPE), and occupational health.
The workshop provided an excellent platform for sharing knowledge, exchanging ideas and strengthening collaborations between researchers and practitioners working to improve firefighter health and safety. The programme featured internationally recognised experts from United Kingdom, United States and Ireland, presenting research and practical perspectives on contamination control strategies, firefighter health and wellbeing, exposure to chemicals generated by combustion, contamination risks during firefighting operations, PPE care and maintenance, and innovations in protective clothing designed to reduce firefighters' exposure to hazardous contaminants, as well as the latest progress of the InToxFIRE project and investigating the movement of fire-generated toxic chemicals through firefighters' protective clothing.
A key feature of the workshop was the dedicated Question & Answer sections following every presentation panel, along with a discussion session allowing generous time for discussion between speakers and participants. These interactive sessions brought together speakers and participants and encouraged the exchange of experiences and viewpoints from different sectors, significantly enhancing knowledge transfer and helping to identify current challenges, research needs and opportunities for future collaboration.
The open and interactive discussions provided valuable insights from researchers, firefighters, industry representatives and other stakeholders, helping to identify key knowledge gaps and challenges.
Feedback was collected from both in-person and online participants and will be used to further enhance future InToxFIRE dissemination activities and workshops.
Certificates of attendance have now been issued to all registered participants. For those who were unable to attend, or who would like to revisit the presentations and discussions, the workshop recordings are now available in the Results section of the InToxFIRE website.
The InToxFIRE team is already planning its next international workshop for summer 2027. Further details will be announced on the InToxFIRE website as they become available.
We would like to express our sincere appreciation to all speakers, session chairs and participants for their valuable contributions and active engagement throughout the workshop.
Special thanks are extended to the workshop facilitators, Mostafa Hashemi, Hayley Corbett, Fredrick Akpomie and Marcella McCann for their valuable support throughout the event. We also gratefully acknowledge our colleagues and friends at the Fire Safety Engineering Research and Technology Centre (FireSERT), Ulster University, the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI), UL Research Institutes (ULRI), and The Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) for their continued support in organising and promoting the workshop. Finally, we thank UL Research Institutes (ULRI) for funding the InToxFIRE project and supporting its mission to advance research and innovation for firefighter health and safety.
The InToxFIRE team looks forward to continuing to share project developments, research outcomes and future events with the global fire safety community.
Stay tuned for more updates on the InToxFIRE project and future developments in fire protection research.
