30 OPINION See more like this online at:
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Speaking for the sector
Dennis Davis looks at the potential for environmental change in 2020
This year has not started quite as many
hoped and expected. The devastating
floods arising from what has been an
extremely wet February and the fact we
are bracing ourselves as a sophisticated
society for possible far-reaching
socioeconomic consequences of a health
epidemic tells us the world is indeed
smaller in a number of ways. Climate
change and societal interconnectivity
have certainly shown their downside.
Threats do however release potential
and this may yet make 2020 one of those
years when an important turning point
does actually happen. The Fire Sector
Federation has constantly championed
fire safety in our environment – built or
natural, believing sustainability and
resilience can be sides of the same coin.
How that is translated into practice is
however crucial and despite trying hard
to improve what in many sectors of
society is a lamentable understanding
about fire we accept improving the
situation has a long way to go.
Grenfell Tower Inquiry
Take for example news from the second
phase of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry
(GTI). After resolving a legal argument
about self-incrimination the GTI is
again underway allowing all of us,
through review of the provided
evidence, to gain a real insight into the
design and coordination of the
construction process.
On Day 7 the Inquiry was examining
the detail of witness Studio E who, in
response to questions, commented:
“Rainscreen cladding itself is quite
straightforward, especially when you’ve
got a concrete substrate……………an
ideal backing………… So the existing
building was in a sense no different to a
new-build; it just happened to have a lot
of people living in it.”
The risk identified related to the
weight of the cladding with the project
recognised as complex, being a high rise
existing building with a single means of
escape. Within the sophisticated
processes that surround building
contracts these concerns of risk and
complexity were therefore identified to
be managed.
This example helps us gain an
appreciation perhaps of how far some
things have moved on yet how little
others have changed. It also highlights
weakness in those crunch matters of
competence, capability and application.
Everyone is aware that information,
data, educational and knowledge
depositories are available yet equally for
various reasons they appear to not be
effectively joined up. Likewise we know
the key drivers of price and time can
interact unfavourably when effort and
cost are demanded to introduce or
embed safety systems.
Decade of Improvement
Sorting this all out was never going to be
easy, hence the Federation’s call for a
“Decade of Improvement” after the
Grenfell tragedy, and to be fair a lot of
effort has been put in to planning. So
much so, in the near future we anticipate
legislative and regulatory proposals
designed to help redress some of the
present “risk –v– cost” imbalance seen
in the building and construction sectors.
Hopefully a leap forward will then
emerge where a thread of control to
reset the relationship between life safety,
including fire, and negative impacts
arising from the well-worn building
mantra of time and cost imperatives,
already tarnished as ‘build more - faster
- cheaper’, will happen.
However that can only ever be a part
of the story. Stopping gaming, halting
shortcuts, restricting poor practices
needs the sort of universal acceptance
that can only be sustained through
culture and transparency. Creating a
good environment is certainly closer
and must soon be within reach. It will
however need industry to be optimistic
enough to invest and visualise the
benefits as well as there to be a
backbone of support and, yes, penalties.
Why? Well without these components
the level playing field sound business
competition requires to behave
responsibly will remain obscured.
The Fire Sector Federation is certainly
pushing for 2020 to have a positive
outcome by promoting five
priorities: construct a fire safe
environment; develop and trust
competent people; raise understanding
of fire safety; increase surveillance and
penalise avoiders; and – above all –
protect lives and property, everywhere
and every way it can.
Dennis Davis is executive officer at
Fire Sector Federation. For more
information visit:
www.firesectorfederation.co.uk
Tel:01608 812543
Stopping
gaming,
halting
shortcuts,
restricting
poor
practices
needs the
sort of
universal
acceptance
that can only
be sustained
through
culture and
transparency
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/www.firesectorfederation.co.uk
