Newsletter Sign-up

Vice President, Manager Engineering Application Training
FM Global

School for Engineers

FM Global's Dennis Anderson succeeded in creating a place where FM Global's engineers could study risk first-hand. Dennis Anderson was finally able to build his "University of Next-Generation Engineers."

After eight years of urging his employer, FM Global, to build a facility where its engineers could gain first-hand knowledge and practical experience with the most common property hazards and equipment found in today's commercial and industrial facilities before taking to the field, the carrier saw the light and built the SimZone.

Opening its doors officially in September 2011, the SimZone is a 12,000-square-foot experiential training facility at the company's Center for Property Risk Solutions in Norwood, Mass. At the facility, FM Global's new engineers experience simulations of real-world scenarios involving common property risks such as fire, ignitable liquid, construction, equipment malfunction and electrical hazards, to make them better equipped to help the carrier's clients protect themselves. The carrier's experienced engineers from around the world can also come to the facility to take specialized courses.

"Our engineers apply the knowledge they have learned about specific threats to begin discussions with clients, to make sure these threats never happen to them," Anderson said. "These threats can not only cause business disruption, but also damage to their reputation, and a drop in stock price if their roof blows up or their building explodes."

SimZone houses 10 hands-on learning stations, in which FM Global's engineers can examine a wide range of property hazards and equipment that they could likely encounter at client facilities.

Some of the stations simulate potential hazards, such as those within construction assemblies for walls and roofs; industrial boilers, ovens and furnaces; electrical equipment; and ignitable liquid storage containers. Other stations enable engineers to learn how to test various safety systems, such as fire pump installations, including those for electric motor-driven pumps and diesel engine-driven pumps; water tanks and sprinkler systems; sprinkler risers; and outdoor equipment, such as industrial propane tanks, dust collectors, outdoor switchgear and utility poles.

Engineers can also learn about non-destructive examination techniques, which are necessary to find cracks in boilers, pressure vessels and other mechanical equipment; and how to determine which warehouse storage configurations for combustible materials are most hazardous and which are most safe.

The SimZone is a complement to FM Global's research campus for fire testing and explosion research, Anderson said.

"What comes out of research and makes it to the SimZone is all this wonderful knowledge after we blow up stuff and burn through two-by-fours," he said. "We have simulations on all of the things that can present themselves at facilities, so our engineers and clients can know how to deal with all of these risks."

For example, many clients have walls that contain plastic to make them more energy efficient, but sometimes the walls can either be installed incorrectly or built with unapproved materials that present greater fire hazards, he said. The SimZone's construction assemblies station has 20 walls, each four-by-seven feet, where engineers can use mirrors or climb a ladder to see what materials are inside, to determine whether or not they present a fire hazard.
"In the real world, our engineers would have to find a place where they can see down from the top of the wall, or cut a penetration point to get a look," Anderson said.

The SimZone was also built to give clients hands-on learning opportunities to better manage property risks. About a dozen clients have already visited the facility, and FM Global will officially open the SimZone's doors to clients in 2013.

In addition to onsite training, Anderson's team will be using the facility to develop "virtual content" for its clients -- instructor-led online training and webinars to teach clients about potential simulations using the hands-on learning stations.

Moreover, Anderson said, the SimZone can be leveraged as a resource to help prospective clients and outside industry groups be better prepared if disaster strikes. For example, the facility was used recently to train more than 30 firefighters from the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy on ways to respond to emergency situations involving hazardous materials.

Karen Freedman, FM Global's vice president, manager of enterprise learning, said the SimZone has "single-handedly transformed" the way the carrier trains its engineers, "so they are better equipped to identify risks at our clients' facilities, and come up with innovative solutions to help our clients better protect their facilities."

"There is no other place like the SimZone in the world -- there was no blueprint for this, so Denny had to come up with this on his own," Freedman said. "The SimZone really came to reality through Denny's tenacity, endless enthusiasm and his 'never give up' attitude."

--By Katie Kuehner-Hebert