Features are carefully selected from across the website and magazine, these articles are contributed by a wide range of authors from across the sectors covered by Fire & Security Matters, as well as the editorial team. Addressing the latest topics in terms of technological developments, legislation and industry issues
THE HIGH price of underinvestment in school buildings was brought to bear in early September, writes Tom Roche, with the news that 174 schools were either forced to close or otherwise install temporary classrooms due to the presence of crumbling Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC).
ARE YOU familiar with instances where firestopping installations may not have been entirely compliant? Maybe a fire collar was not mechanically fixed, a wrap was used in an oversized hole or PU foam was employed to seal around services? If so, the benefit of the doubt is yours. You were working to the best of your knowledge at the time. Indeed, acknowledging how you’ve worked in the past is the first step towards improvement, asserts Darryl Wells.
EN 54-23 WAS published in the UK in 2010 and became mandatory on 1 January 2014. After that time, any visual alarm device (VAD) newly installed and used as the primary means of warning as part of a fire alarm system has to conform with this standard. Mike Sutton has the detail.
OVER THE last few years, the use of multi-sensor detectors has grown in popularity. Due to such detectors’ ability to detect fire at the earliest possible opportunity by combining multiple sensors within one device, installers and end users alike are reaping the benefits, particularly so as they’ve been proven to reduce the UK’s multimillion-pound economic headache of false alarms. Ian Humby elaborates on the fine detail.
HAVE YOU ever thought that Quelfire’s products are perhaps too expensive for the project you’re working on? Here, Craig Wells determines to change that mindset by focusing on the importance of test evidence underpinning fire products and systems used as part of the construction process.
