Ensuring Fire Health And Safety Starts With Awareness

Fire risk assessments, under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (in the United Kingdom), should be a regular practice carried out by a property’s “responsible person.” Yet, according to government statistics, the total number of fire safety audits has declined since 2010/11, dropping by 43% and 27% in the past five years. With that, we must raise awareness of fire safety audits' importance until they are widely adopted by building owners and responsible individuals. The Fire Safety Order applies to all non-domestic premises to which the public has access and communal areas in residential buildings, such as stairways, in brief, all buildings must be protected. Regular fire risk assessments are a vital step in producing adequate and appropriate fire precautions to reduce the risk of fire and in doing so, will leave building owners with peace of mind that their property and the people within are safeguarded.

With fire control panels becoming ever more sophisticated with advanced features, and potential for networking and configurations, thorough training and installer support are critical to ensure systems are optimized and end-user benefits fully realized. While training is commonplace, training should go further to ensure every installation realizes its full potential. Kentec’s Installation Partner (KIP) program sees installers benefit from training and support, specifically designed to support installations of highly sophisticated panels, such as the Taktis. The scheme also provides dedicated technical support (including on-site) and advanced access to the latest systems and software. In addition to training and support, our KIPs tell us their membership supports client tenders by demonstrating individual competency on the flagship Taktis panel and Syncro AS. The goal is to support professionalization, and this suggests the scheme is helping to achieve that.

Recent dramatic and deadly increases in global wildfire activity in both the United States and Australia have drawn more attention to the causes of wildfire, but relatively little has been done in terms of detection and mitigation. A recent study estimated that, as of January 2021, there were nearly 50 million homes in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) in the U.S., an increase of approximately 1 million houses every 3 years. This encroachment of human activity into the wildland increases the number of wildfires due to human ignitions. Combined with a natural increase in fuel aridity due to a warming climate, those wildfires as we’ve seen consume more acreage and become harder to fight as letting natural fires burn becomes impossible. Homes and communities are being developed in dry wooded areas, and there’s often not enough time to escape. More guidance is needed on building adequate fire detection and defenses around these homes, this is where fiber optic linear heat detection can play a key role. The beauty of fiber optic linear heat detection systems is that we can build long-range defense perimeters that provide full coverage along the entire length (up to 40km per channel) and can provide much earlier detection. We are starting to see some research in these areas, but it would be good to see wider adoption.

[On preventing firefighter health issues:] Dräger’s 2022 “Health for the Firefighter” survey found that 100% of respondents admitted concern that exposure to carcinogens would impact their long-term health, with 65.2% categorizing this concern as considerable. Such far-reaching and significant concern is not a surprise. Still, it is vital that we utilize technology, expertise, and research to reduce carcinogen exposure and ensure that the health and well-being of those protecting the public are prioritized. This is a driving force at Dräger, guiding how the kit is designed to be easy to clean and in our mechanical cleaning and bespoke workshop solutions. Mechanical cleaning systems are an important development as they deliver complete consistency in washing temperatures, the amount of detergent used, and the speed of both the washing and drying process – all of which can work together to clean the kit and protect its longevity thoroughly. The same survey found that 79% of respondents thought this solution would improve their long-term health.