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
WITH THE Grenfell Tower fire having occurred nearly a decade ago, the conversation around fire safety competency continues, writes Justin Maltby-Smith, but concerns around consistency and transparency in the sector remain. These concerns play a central role in the Government’s consultation on regulation of the sector due to the fact that the debate isn’t simply about frameworks, registers or professionalisation. It’s also about public safety.
TWO DECADES ago, writes Tom Roche, a piece of regulatory guidance quietly set a ceiling – quite literally – on what a warehouse could be without sprinklers. That 18-metre height limit in Approved Document B was, at the time, an outer boundary to signal a building that was going taller than perhaps the norm. Now, warehouses look very different. Has our thinking about protecting them from fire kept pace?
FIRE SAFETY in Scotland marked a defining moment on 6 April with the introduction of new regulations requiring sprinkler systems to be installed in historic building conversions used as hotels. For many commentators and practitioners, this represents a necessary step forward, writes Iain Cox.
FOR MANY fire protection contractors, observes Onetrace, the biggest risk isn’t the installation work itself. It’s the records surrounding it. Photos and site updates can be buried in personal phones and WhatsApp chats. Quality assurance sheets sit in folders and drawings are marked up manually.
BACK IN late March, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched its open consultation on the Fire Risk Assessors Profession in England. The consultation closes on 18 June. Here, Dennis Davis outlines why it’s essential that all practitioners responsible for fire safety in the estimated three million buildings in England where the legal requirement exists to undertake a fire risk assessment, record the findings and take any necessary actions under the Fire Safety Order must respond.
