Fire Protection Association (FPA, UK) News
Leading Britain’s Conversation (LBC) has reportedly seen an email from representatives at Arsenal which says that the vital works can start "after the football season." To date, the permissions to start work and put up scaffolding still has yet to be signed off by the football club. Arsenal received funding from the government for remediation works on 1 and 3 Queensland Road in December 2021, two years after a survey found the blocks have missing fire breaks, and unsafe insulation th...
The government has published its response to the consultation on the use of cladding in buildings over 11 m in England. Combustible materials have been banned for use in external facades of buildings higher than 18m since 2018, following extensive lobbying in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. In early 2020, the government suggested also banning the use of such materials for buildings above 11 m in height, and ran a consultation on this in May 2020, the response to which has just b...
The government has published its response to the consultation on the use of cladding in buildings over 11m in England. Combustible materials Combustible materials have been banned for use in external facades of buildings higher than 18m since 2018, following extensive lobbying in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire. In early 2020, the government suggested also banning the use of such materials for buildings above 11m in height, and ran a consultation on this in May 2020, the response to...
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is in serious need of funding to tackle the building safety crisis, according to Commissioner Andy Roe. A total of 1,100 of London’s buildings above 11 meters are currently listed by the LFB as having serious fire safety issues. While this represents a slight drop from 1,174 in March, the capital has had more than 1,000 unsafe buildings for almost a year, and the real number of unsafe buildings could be much higher. City Hall Plenary meeting At a City Hall...
The small fire, which started in a room at the back of the school, was contained and prevented from spreading by a sprinkler system, however, two people were taken to hospital with minor burns. Derbyshire’s Chief Fire Officer, Gavin Tomlinson, said Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service are calling for a change in legislation that would ensure more schools have sprinklers. Author's quote Gavin said: “Nationally, through the Fire Chiefs Council, and locally across Derby and Derbys...
The episode begins with Jonathan O’Neill OBE, FPA Managing Director, speaking with Chris Miles, Regional Business Director at UL, to explore how international testing practices could benefit the UK’s own building safety. Their discussion starts with a look at the Building Safety Act receiving royal assent, and whether a clearer, more transparent, and more effective specification and testing regime for construction products was being achieved. Chris casts doubt over whether this has...
The LFB accepted every recommendation made by the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and has already implemented 26 of the 29 recommendations directed specifically at the LFB and other fire and rescue services. One key recommendation has seen the introduction of an electronic system to record Fire Survival Guidance (FSG) call information in the control room and display it simultaneously in command units and at the bridgehead – a safe working space at least two floors below the fire). The FSG app...
When it comes to the correct selection of fixed fire-fighting suppression systems, there are many external influences that can affect the correct specification of fire suppression for the protection against fire of many buildings. By far the two biggest influences are cost and space, when the decision should be based on hazard, risk, effectiveness, longevity of water supply, fire strategy, third-party approvals, standards, research & testing, proven track records, and insurability. Fixed f...
In association with a building’s built-in passive fire resisting features, residential sprinkler systems have been demonstrated to be very effective at protecting lives from fire, both of the occupants and those attending. Their use has typically been prevalent where normal safety measures might be considered insufficient to assure the safety of occupants either due to their own special needs, or due to the specific challenges of the building such as its height, layout, or remoteness from...
A fire that engulfed six buses at a Hertfordshire town center transport depot has been linked to an electric bus catching fire while charging. Hertfordshire Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) arrived in the afternoon on Sunday, 22 May, 2022, where a local resident described the scene, saying: "I just heard an unbelievable noise that sounded like a jet and when I looked out my window, one of the buses exploded in a ball of flames." Causing further damage The smoke from the blaze was so heavy that...
The government is facing criticism from across the fire safety sector, as well as from campaign groups and bereaved relatives of the Grenfell Tower residents, having previously promised to implement the inquiry’s recommendations in full. The Home Office published a consultation document that outlined its reasoning, stating that they believe it is not "proportionate" to follow the recommendations and will continue to place its faith in "stay put" advice in most buildings. PEEPs in h...
The Fitness for Human Habitation (Wales) Act comes into effect 15 July, and will affect all landlords, whether social or private. The act identifies 29 hazards within the property where landlords need to meet minimum requirements. The FFHH act requires a smoke alarm, in proper working order, to be present on every storey of a dwelling. Landlords must ensure that each of these alarms is in proper working order and interlinked with all other smoke alarms connected to the electricity supply. Batt...
David Riella, joint owner of the Deganwy Hotel pleaded guilty to three offenses under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and has been ordered to pay £8,567 in fines and costs. He was also ordered to pay £4,537 in costs and a victim surcharge of £190 when he appeared before Bodmin Magistrates’ Court on April 26. The failures in the fire safety standards were identified by officers of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service following a fire at the property in June 20...
The club has been told it can only reopen once it addresses serious fire safety concerns. They were forced to close following a joint operation by Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service and Warwickshire Police. On inspection of the premises, the fire service found there was insufficient fire-resistant separation between the commercial premises on the ground floor and the means of escape from the upper floor residential accommodation. Inspectors also noted the absence of a working fire alarm when...
The occupant was able to evacuate the premises safely, and the fire was already out when firefighters arrived on the scene thanks to sprinklers that had been fitted throughout the building. Fire officers say the incident highlights the value of fire sprinklers fitted in high-rise, residential buildings. benefits of retrofitting sprinklers All high-rise tower blocks in Doncaster have been fitted with fire sprinklers by St Leger Homes. The housing provider’s investment followed a joint fi...
Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event hosted by the Mental Health Foundation which presents an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. This year’s theme is tackling loneliness and understanding the links between loneliness and poor mental health. The aim of the week is to highlight the importance of having open conversations in communities and workplaces to build meaningful connections with friends, family, and colleagues. Society is changin...
Staff from Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service’s (NFRS) Fire Safety Team carried out a routine fire service audit on premises known as the China Cook, in Waterloo Road. Following the visit, a Prohibition Notice was served on November 26, 2021, preventing the use of upper floors for sleeping. It was issued as sleeping materials including beds and bedding were discovered on the first floor. Breach of a Prohibition Notice A follow-up visit on 10 December 2021, revealed a breach of the N...
“We’re delighted to be returning to FIREX International this year and we relish the opportunity it presents to connect with our members, customers, and the wider fire safety sector,” said Jonathan O’Neill OBE, Managing Director of the Fire Protection Association (FPA). He adds, “FIREX will see the launch of several new and exciting FPA services including our Material Identification Laboratory, for identifying building insulation material; two fire resistance test f...
The FPA’s Assembly Point podcast continues its second series, examining resilience, building regulations, and insurance challenges. role of resilience For the third episode of this second series of Assembly Point, Dr. Jim Glockling, the FPA’s Technical Director and Director of RISCAuthority is joined by Tom Roche, Senior Consultant at FM Global, and Mike Rooney, Chief Executive Officer at Resilience First, to explore resilience and whether it will ever be fully embedded if no...
As we reported last week, The Bill received royal assent on 28 April after months of debate and amendments, and has passed into law as the Building Safety Act 2022. The 252-page Bill is intended to “create lasting generational change” to the way high-risk and residential buildings are constructed and maintained. Passing of the Building Safety Act Jonathan O’Neill OBE, Managing Director of the FPA, commented: “Of course we welcome the passing of the Building Safety...
In 2021, one in ten cars bought in the UK was electric, according to the Society of Motoring Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Electric vehicles are powered by large batteries, which are either fueled by the motion of the car itself (in a hybrid model) or charged at a charging station. These lithium batteries are extremely advanced but highly flammable if misused or faulty. In the case of "thermal runaway," there is a rapid and extreme rise in temperature passing between battery cells, which ca...
A Yorkshire property company has been fined £20,000 for failing to carry out safety and fire safety improvement works on a property in Kirkburn, Driffield after ignoring requests to do so by housing officers. GAP Properties (Yorkshire) Ltd, which is based in Doncaster, was represented at Beverley Magistrates Court by director George Plant, who pleaded guilty on its behalf to two counts of failing to comply with improvement notices served under the Housing Act 2004. East Riding of Yorkshi...
The Fire Investigation Fire Standard focuses on ensuring fire and rescue services (FRS) deliver effective, efficient, and valid fire investigations into the origin, cause, and development of fire. One of the desired outcomes of the Fire Investigation Fire Standard is that services will have a competent and resilient capability to undertake fire investigations, adhering to relevant legislation, guidance, and codes of practice. The Fire Investigation Fire Standard also makes reference to the ISO...
A number of vulnerable people were left at serious risk of fire at a hostel for vulnerable people with a huge number of safety failings, resulting in a Liverpool landlord being hit with a bill of almost £25,000 for exposing vulnerable and homeless tenants to serious fire risks in the House of Multiple Occupation (HMO). £20,000 fine Step One (NW) Limited was issued a £20,000 fine by Liverpool Magistrates Court on Thursday, 17 March, for failure to comply with the Management of...
35 developers have pledged to pay £5bn towards fire safety remediation, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has announced. Building Safety Levy The government also announced that the Building Safety Levy will cover new residential buildings in England of all sizes, which is expected to raise a total of £5bn over the next ten years – £2bn of which will come from the 35 developers to fix their own buildings, and the remaining £3bn from a...
A science museum located in Bristol city center, in Bristol, United Kingdom (UK) was evacuated, after its roof caught fire. Avon Fire and Rescue Service were called to We The Curious in Millennium Square, Bristol, at about 14:00 on Saturday 9 April. All visitors to the museum were evacuated safely from the building. joint investigation Around 35 firefighters in five fire engines responded to the call and extinguished the fire. A joint investigation between Avon F&RS and the police is bein...
Robert McBride Ltd of Hull was sentenced on 7 April for safety breaches after a 31-year-old worker suffered 13% superficial burns to his right arm and hand following the ignition of flammable vapors at the company’s site. Beverley Magistrates’ Court heard that on 21 August 2017, a batch of hairspray was being mixed in a 10,000-liter stainless steel mixing vessel. Flammable vapors were created within the mixing vessel as a result of heating. flammable vapors Ethanol was pumped dire...
The government is facing calls to deliver pension justice that a Court of Appeal ruling has mandated, with their lack of action meaning that the Fire Brigades Union is being forced to begin preparing relevant legal claims on behalf of its members. In a further unusual step, employees’ and employers’ representatives within fire and rescue have sent a joint letter to the government, calling on them to alter steps which mean that fire and rescue services are currently unable to comply...
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service (LFRS) are changing how they respond to automatic fire alarms (AFA) in non-sleeping risk premises during the day. From 1 April 2022, LFRS are changing the way they respond to calls from automatic systems and from persons who have not investigated the source of a sounding fire alarm in non-sleeping risk buildings, between the hours of 8 am and 7 pm, seven days a week. Automatic fire alarms (AFAs) Automatic fire alarms (AFAs) provide early warning in the...
The Fire Protection Association (FPA) announces the departure of its long-standing Technical and RISCAuthority Director, Dr. Jim Glockling, who has decided to step down from his position for lifestyle reasons. Dr. Jim Glockling will remain with the company until the end of June. positive influence Commenting on the news, the FPA’s Managing Director, Jonathan O’Neill OBE said, “Having worked with Jim for more than 20 years, I have seen firsthand the positive influence he has...
