Grenfell management warned of safety failings a year before blaze

OFFICIAL warnings identifying multiple fire safety failings at Grenfell Tower were served on the building’s management the year before the fire but no action was taken, documents reveal.

An independent fire risk assessment, a routine inspection during the refur- bishment, was carried out in June 2016 and recommended action on more than 40 “high risk” issues within two to three weeks, according to ITV News.

Four months later, the fire risk assessor wrote to the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO) asking why action still had not been taken on more than 20 issues he had identified in his report.

A separate fire deficiency notice from the then London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority, was issued in November 2016 with a deadline for action in May 2017, a month before the blaze that killed 72 residents.

The documents are the first to reveal that official warnings about fire safety – that the management body was legally required to act upon – were issued before the fire.

The two fire safety audits reportedly identified problems with some damaged or poorly-fitted fire doors and others that did not self-close. They raised questions about how the refurbishment had affected the operation of the smoke venting system and lift controls.

Barbara Lane, a fire engineer who analysed the blaze, detailed such failings in her official report to the Grenfell Inquiry. She said that refurbishment work undertaken on lifts in 2005 and between 2012-16 left them unfit for evacuating vulnerable residents and aiding the emergency response.

She also found that all of the 106 flat entrance fire doors replaced in 2011 did not meet building regulation standards, which required them to withstand a fire for 30 minutes. Grenfell Tower residents have previously revealed that they warned the management organisation of fire safety concerns over a period of several years.

The KCTMO ceased to exist following the fire but Kensington and Chelsea council, the owner of Grenfell Tower, said in a statement: “This will be a matter for the public inquiry, and to comment further could risk prejudicing the ongoing police investigation. We do not want to do or say anything that could obstruct the course of justice.

“Our first and last thoughts will always be with those that lost their lives. We want the whole unvarnished truth and we will do all we can to assist, no matter what the consequences are.”