THERE IS nothing in the Building Safety Act for building services contractors to fear. That’s according to a senior spokesperson for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Neil Hope-Collins urged delegates at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers’ (CIBSE) recent Build2Perform Conference and accompanying exhibition to embrace the new building safety laws that came into force in April and, further, take advantage of the legal powers they afford to specialist contractors. [Read More]

CHEMICALS COMPANY International Paint Limited has been fined £800,000 after a worker suffered life-changing injuries as the result of an explosion. The employee spent eight days in intensive care on a life support machine and has been left with all-over body scarring, partial blindness to one eye, hearing damage and damage to a knee and shoulder. The male employee was necessarily absent from work for a period of 16 months. [Read More]

THE DEPARTMENT for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is launching a pilot opening of a new 11-18 metres remediation fund designated the Medium-Rise Scheme (MRS). The MRS is a new fund for tower blocks of between 11 and 18 metres in height that will ensure, where a responsible developer cannot be identified, funding is now available to pay for external wall system repairs and mitigations in these buildings. [Read More]

PROPOSALS FOR how developers would pay to fix unsafe buildings have been set out by the Government as the Conservative Party at Westminster moves a step closer to imposing its new Building Safety Levy. The Government has now begun consulting developers and other interested parties on the plans, which will see an estimated £3 billion collected over the next decade. [Read More]

THE DEPARTMENT for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has just issued a detailed document that provides an update on the progress made to date on implementing the recommendations outlined within the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 report. It includes updates from the relevant Government departments and assurances received from relevant public authorities – among them the London Fire Brigade, the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and other Emergency Services – on their progress to address and implement the Phase 1 recommendations directed to them. [Read More]

AS OF Monday 23 January 2023, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations will come into force. It will then be a legal requirement for all ‘Responsible Persons’ presiding over multi-occupied residential high-rise buildings (ie those structures upwards of 11 metres tall) in England to undertake quarterly checks on fire doors (including self-closing devices) in common parts. In direct response, the Global HSE Group has devised a detailed approach to ensure that the ‘golden thread’ of information for fire doors is maintained through its Ceasefire composite FD30 fire door range. [Read More]

THE ANNUAL Fire Industry Association (FIA) Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry, which is published by Fire Safety Matters magazine, has won a major award at the Professional Publishers Association’s Independent Publisher Awards 2022. We are delighted to reveal that the FIA Guide has won the Commercial Partnership of the Year Award. [Read More]

ZURICH UK is calling for compulsory sprinkler installations in warehouses as retailers hit their busiest time of the year. According to research and analysis conducted by the insurer, the number of warehouse and bulk storage fires has soared by a quarter (ie 26%) over 2021-2022. [Read More]