Fire loophole puts building safety at risk
A FIRE safety loophole means “dangerous decisions” are being made about building design that could lead to more serious blazes, the London Fire Brigade has warned.
The service has made recommendations to Dame Judith Hackitt’s independent review into building regulations and fire safety, commissioned following the Grenfell blaze. It said a “general lack of competence” was leading to “dangerous decisions” about building design or construction.
Inspections find serious problems with buildings, including significant construction defects, critical fire safety system flaws and a lack of understanding of fire safety measures by building managers.
London Fire Brigade is calling for a loophole to be closed that means some fire safety elements can be designed without the involvement of a competent fire safety professional. It also wants to see formal qualifications or accreditation for those who install life-saving systems such as smoke ventilation, fire detection and alarms, as well as a robust, independent on-site inspection programme that ensures the fire safety elements of a building’s design are translated into the finished construction.
Dan Daly, assistant commissioner for fire safety, said: “It took a tragedy for everyone to take fire safety seriously and listen to what the Brigade has been saying for years about skills. Urgent action is needed to better regulate those who are responsible for ensuring that a building’s design, construction and maintenance are fit for purpose.
“There are countless points where a dangerous decision can be made about a building’s design or upkeep, and hardly any measures to ensure that the people making those decisions are sufficiently experienced and properly qualified,” he added.
“This means that potentially dangerous design flaws could exist within a building until we either find it at a later date or, in the worst-case scenario, it is exposed by a serious fire. We don’t have the legal powers or the resources to check the entire fabric of a building, but we often uncover dangerous flaws that we can’t ignore.”
He added: “We recognise that this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make buildings safer, and are actively supporting the review process.”
‘It took a tragedy for everyone to take fire safety seriously and listen to what the Brigade has been saying’