Fire safety engineer Sumit Khanna and Vasanthi Hariprakash talk about how each of us can play our role in reducing the risk of fire accidents as we lead our lives in cities. Both Sumit and Vasanthi are associated with the Beyond Carlton trust.

They discuss India's fire safety codes and policies, discuss implementation challenges, and explore important questions about fire safety that every citizen can ask – about their homes, apartments, offices, malls, hotels and any places they visit.

Beyond Carlton is a citizen-led initiative that works to improve fire-safety awareness across India. It was started by Uday Vijayan, after he lost his young son in the preventable Carlton Towers fire tragedy that occurred on February 23, 2010.

Sumit Khanna is a trained fire protection engineer from the National Fire Service College, Nagpur. With over 12 years of experience in the fire protection industry, Sumit has worked with multiple companies in developing building codes, writing standards and promoting fire prevention. He has contributed to India's National Building Code, helped amend Karnataka's fire laws, and was one of the people inspecting the Carlton Towers Fire in 2011.

Vasanthi Hariprakash is a journalist, radio and podcast host, and storyteller. She has worked with the Indian Express, with Radio City 91 FM as the host of the primetime show Good Morning Bangalore, with NDTV, among others.

BIC Talks is brought to you by the Bangalore International Centre. Visit the BIC website for show notes, links and more information about the guests.