FIA

A House of Commons seminar, co-sponsored by the Fire Industry Association (FIA), has provided an excellent opportunity to address and debate many of the issues currently facing those involved in all facets of the fire industry.

The All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group annual Parliamentary Seminar, organised by the Fire Safety Development Group (FSDG) in association with the FIA, took place under the banner “Decisions to Take in Tough Times”, in a packed committee room at the Commons on 8 December which included representatives from government, the fire and rescue services, insurers, fire protection specialists and the media.

Amongst the speakers was Dave Berry, Vice Chairman of the FIA’s newly formed Fire Risk Assessment Council who spoke about the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, its problems and the vital role that quantifying the competency of those undertaking risk assessment has to play in the fire safety process. This was the first formal presentation by the Risk Assessment Council since it was officially formed at the FIA’s 2008 AGM in November and Dave spoke of “…ensuring the competence of those who sell their services as Fire Risk Assessors”, recognising that “…the current guidance [in this area] is weak, with the result that there are many premises where the occupiers and the businesses concerned are unwittingly at risk.” He pointed out a number of the areas which somebody competent in fire risk assessment needs to be able to assess including fire start scenarios, growth characteristics and human behaviour, citing third party certification for all those providing fire risk assessment services as the ultimate goal.

Mike Briggs, an independent fire risk consultant of more than 30 years, focussed on fire losses, recognising that despite the reduction in the total number of fires, the cost to insurers has risen dramatically due to the significant increase in large loss fires. In 2006, of the 426,000 recorded fires, less than 10% were in buildings other than dwellings but they represented a staggering loss of £1 billion. He spoke of ways in which this problem can be addressed seeing improved fire risk assessments, reduction of false alarms and better compartmentalisation of large buildings as all being contributory factors.

Building materials and the associated fire safety standards was the subject matter for Iain Cox, Chief Fire Officer of the Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service and Phil Cook, MD of Euroclad. Iain spoke of the challenges presented to the brigades by increasingly complex buildings and how adherence to Approved Document B is a significant help, communicating what materials have been used in the construction process, confirming that the building has been built to plan and identifying the location of key information such as gas valve points. Euroclad is one of the largest suppliers of metal roof/wall systems and MD Phil Cook looked at structural engineering, expressing concern that the fire resistance of schools and hospitals is being compromised through the use of metal cladding panels containing a combustible core.

Dr Debbie Smith, Director of Fire Services at BRE Global, took ‘Fire certification and the latest trends in design and build’ as her topic. She spoke of the changes in the way buildings are being constructed and the affect this is having on fire performance. Concluding the morning session was Mike Wood, Chairman of the Fire Safety Development Group (FSDG), who looked at the direction to be taken in UK fire protection. He voiced concerns that there is not yet a sufficiently unified fire safety community and proposed that a road map needs to be developed, clarifying the long term vision of fire safety and providing a unified approach to engaging with those working within the built environment.

The post-lunch session was in the form of Q&A’s, with topics which included the future of flooding response, the fire and rescue services role in the community and the National Procurement strategy being implemented for public sector purchasing.