Innovations will save Russians from fires.
In large cities of Russia, due to rising land prices and an increase in the number of migrants, the construction of multi-storey buildings has recently become increasingly active.
Despite all the advantages of such buildings, their economic component in the minds of urban planners often overshadows safety issues.
Large cities were built at a time when no one imagined that the population would have so many private cars.
Multi-kilometer traffic jams, so common in Moscow or St. Petersburg, arise primarily because the capacity of highways has long been exhausted.
But traffic jams are not the only reason why a fire truck may be late to the scene of a fire.
Many courtyards have turned into spontaneous parking lots, where it is problematic to drive an ordinary car, not to mention large-sized special vehicles.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, in his recent speech at the conference of the International Assembly of Capitals and Major Cities, emphasized the importance of creating new innovative security systems in Moscow.
According to Luzhkov, recently at the Council on Informatization he proposed creating a group that would create information systems and their implementation in Russian cities.
The mayor noted that to ensure the safety of Muscovites’ homes, a network of video cameras is being developed in the city, however, in this area, according to the mayor, the capital is experiencing setbacks — in particular, there is practically no centralization in the work of special equipment.
Let us recall that back in 2007, Luzhkov stated that “first of all, it is necessary to ensure the protection of people and housing, including from man-made disasters.”
However, after two years it became clear that there was not enough money to install video cameras in every Moscow house.
According to rough calculations, this should cost the authorities 670 million rubles, which is astronomical money during a crisis. In addition, video surveillance alone is not enough to prevent explosions and fires.
In this regard, the developments of private construction companies are becoming increasingly widespread — first of all, evacuation systems from high-rise buildings and window blockers, unique technologies that have so far been used exclusively in the Russian capital.
A REGIONS.RU correspondent asked Alexander Gorodetsky, executive director of the Construction Center «Capital», one of the leading companies involved in implementing these initiatives, with a request to comment on the problems that companies face when ensuring the safety of residential buildings.
Where do you think the main threat to the safety of residents of large cities comes from?
The main threat to residents of large cities comes from… residents of large cities. Arson, drunkenness, violation of rules for the operation of residential premises, poorly laid wiring, etc. – the most common sources of fires and man-made disasters.
All this is complicated by people’s lack of habit of equipping their homes with means of individual rescue, because often, due to the specific nature of fires, saving a person requires a very decent amount of time, which is not always available.
This is evidenced by the sad statistics of human casualties.
What is the current situation in the security services market?
How popular is this field of activity in Russia?
The situation with human safety in Russia is depressing.
There are only a few commercial companies that would market new products in the field of saving people, because research in this area costs a lot of money, and the sale of products is not guaranteed.
In Russia, until a roast rooster pecks, a man will not cross himself. Nevertheless, we manage to successfully conduct research in this area and produce products that are superior in their characteristics to their analogues.
Please tell us what developments your company is making in the field of security?
Among the most popular developments in the capital are the «Blocker» devices. and «Chance». «Chance» is a device that will allow any number of people to escape from any height. It is quite simple to use; even a completely unprepared person can use it.
It is worth noting that most rescue equipment on the market is designed for people with at least mountaineering skills. Also, we recently launched the “Blocker” device on the market, which solves the problem of “blind” bars. In addition, we are working on the concept of safety zones in buildings, which will help reduce deaths due to fires by 90%. It will be possible to get acquainted with this concept in the summer.
What is new about your proposals in this area?
We are exclusively engaged in innovation, each of our products is unique, and many have no analogues.
For example, you can take a blocker. Not long before its creation, we attended a board meeting with the participation of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and representatives of the departments of education and health.
Safety issues were discussed, including the pressing issue that grilles should not be left on buildings because people inside would be trapped in the event of a fire. At the same time, it is also impossible to cut them off, because the number of thefts immediately increases by an order of magnitude.
A month later, we had already made the first blocker and a month later we equipped the first schools in the Northern District of the capital with it. Similar stories can be told about a number of our developments.
Why did you decide to get involved in this, in your words, unpopular area of commerce?
Because it is the most interesting and productive.
We have many ideas that require implementation, and by implementing them we receive a lot of positive emotions.
It may not be as profitable as being involved in stock speculation or manufacturing, but there is a drive in our work and we like to create something that no one else can create.
Recently, top government officials have been talking a lot about supporting innovative businesses and innovators. If we had government support or the support of large businesses, we could release dozens of in-demand technical solutions every year.
We currently fund our research ourselves, drawing on profits from our previous developments. Despite the crisis, we are expanding and preparing to open several more innovative areas this year.
These include a new building material that will be significantly superior to chipboard and plywood, as well as a line of improvements for civilian and military weapons and a new pistol design.
How do you hope to introduce innovation into the capital’s economic activity?
Even though innovation is recognized everywhere, it is sometimes extremely difficult to implement it.
This is largely due to the fact that firms that work with government contracts do not have the opportunity to bypass the tender system, even if they are the only rights holders.
That is, when a tender was announced specifically for blockers, left-wing companies still came, which could participate on absolutely legal grounds.
What saves us is that our products are unique.
And therefore they are in demand.
In addition, we produce exclusively in Russia and from domestic components.
All this, in theory, should give us advantages over other companies, but this is not the case.
I hope that this situation will change in the near future and it will be easier for us to do what we love.