Now schools f ire probe spreads to our hospitals

Firm that built schools named in safety audit built nine units for HSE

THE HSE is investigating whether a number of hospitals could be affected by the discovery of firesafety breaches in five primary schools built by the same firm.

Missing smoke seals, gaps around fire doors, and deficiencies in firestopping materials were detected during safety audits at schools in Dublin, Wicklow and Westmeath.

The Department of Education has now commissioned fire-safety audits in up to 25 additional schools built by the same firm, Western Building Systems Ltd. The Tyrone construction company has also been responsible for the construction of at least nine hospital units for the HSE in recent years.

Western Building Systems Ltd, which began as a flat-roofing company but now specialises in modular buildings, also built an acute psychiatric inpatient unit at Beaumont Hospital and the Stroke Clinic at St James’s Hospital.

Other projects that will be examined by the HSE include: an oncology unit and acute psychiatry unit at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda; a cystic fibrosis decant unit and medical admissions unit at Beaumont Hospital; the MRI and CT scanning unit and the oncology/ haematology department at Crumlin hospital; and a building at St Finbarr’s Hospital in Cork.

Fire-safety concerns in relation to the company’s building projects arose in 2014, when an audit at a north Dublin school identified that remedial works were required.

A HSE spokesman said yesterday that it would be examining the issue that has arisen with fire safety in primary schools in an effort to establish whether it was applicable to healthcare buildings. ‘We don’t anticipate any problems, at this stage,’ he said.

Western Building Systems Ltd had a turnover of almost £40m in 2013. Yesterday, a spokesman said that it believed the buildings mentioned in reports had met all fire-safety and building regulations at the time of construction, noting that in some cases regulations had changed.

‘All of the required certifications of compliance were issued by the architect and by the client without any note of the defects included in the recent reports,’ he said.