Mike Wood, vice chair of the Passive Fire Protection Federation and Head of Fire for Pilkington UK writes for Means of Escape
Fire Futures is a vital initiative, significant for three main reasons. Firstly, it is a signal that fire safety should now be moved on and advanced by the sector. It is an invitation for the sector to take the lead, an opportunity to take on the main issues and prepare for fire safety in the future. Secondly, as a result of how the review has played out, there is now implicitly a strong recognition that the sector has a third leg – the fire safety industry. Fire safety is not the sole preserve of the fire and rescue service and the fire authorities. The industry is not outside, just participating around the periphery; it is rather at the heart of fire safety. The Fire Futures process has made that obvious. Thirdly, the review has strong symbolic value in giving recognition to the important key principle of integrated fire safety. The participation of industry at such an early stage, so influentially, emphasizes that fire safety is achieved not by individual actions working in isolation without attention or credence to others, but by coordinated and planned combined effort. Integrated fire safety holds the key.
We cannot afford to be complacent about fire safety. Yes, there has been good progress in reducing fire deaths over the last twenty years. But the five years from 2003 to 2007 show more fire-fighter deaths than for any previous consecutive 5 year period since the 1970s, while figures from the Association of British Insurers quote insured losses for 2009 at £1.6 billion, an increase of 16% on the previous year on a steady upwards trend over several years. Also, fire safety now has a wider agenda. Environmental aspects and the sustainability of local economies and communities are assuming a higher level of consideration. Jobs, community assets and business continuity all now matter greatly.
Fire tragedies still occur. How we build, specify and design buildings influences fire safety now and into the future. Trends established for reasons other than fire safety are not easily modified, nor reversed. The unnecessary, tragic deaths of six persons in Lakanal House in July 2009 occurred in a 1960’s building based on a late 1950’s design template, with modifications carried out along the way before the Fire Safety Order came in to require a suitable and sufficient fire risk assessment.
That developments in the built environment are key to achievements in fire safety should be self-evident – but a review of the risks set by the built environment was not included in the concept of Fire Futures as originally set out. This had to be introduced by the industry. There are higher risks and uncertainties in how to deal with fire in many of today’s buildings compared with traditional brick or stone-built structures. Materials and methods of construction are significantly different, lighter and less robust; designs are more open; and fire loads are tending to increase when so many fixtures, fittings and components are based on synthetic and natural organic materials. Similarly, patterns of occupation and use have changed in city-centre urban jungles where the density of occupation is ever upwards, forcing taller and taller buildings with complex mixes of function and purpose. Fire safety futures needs to take proper note of those trends.
Reports from the fire safety industry suggest there is a worrying tendency for fire safety to be pushed down the order of priorities – economising, lack of information and training, “value engineering,” and the absence of co-operation between sectors have led to a fragmented and disjointed process of control. There is yet no recognised standard qualification for risk assessors and even within the fire safety industry there are differences which add to confusion and delays. Regulation and fire safety legislation are not of prime concern. But achieving compliance most certainly is. That is where the focus now needs to be placed.
To quote the report: “The future for the fire and rescue service and Fire UK as a whole is bright, and it has almost unlimited talent within it waiting to be unleashed”. Given the changes that confront us, we must ensure that, whatever the government’s response, Fire UK takes up the opportunity presented by Fire Futures. That means working as a single entity, advancing industry themes such as best practice and fitness for purpose in all aspects of fire safety within the built environment.
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