Do you know how safe the products are you have specified, procured or installed? Within the construction industry there is a mountain of suppliers and different products, especially in the Fire sector. This is being amplified more as the Fire industry is going through a significantly challenging time and manufacturers are rightly trying to capitalise on this by developing existing products or new more innovative products. Why not take this opportunity, after all we are all in business to make money and pay the bills. However, we have to make sure as a society that safety and saving lives is number one priority. Misleading customers with ambiguous claims of performance or not being truthful with test data are equally as bad and very much deserve to be punished with severe consequences and rightly so as the consequences of failure are certainly very severe. How can we regulate this? What can you do if you are specifying or buying these products? Answer - Product 3rd Party Certification. Firstly it is not a requirement under any legislation to use 3rd Party Certificated products, lets come back to this statement in a bit. If you are a specifier or buying products would you not want to use products that have been tested to a UKAS standard independently, checked by a UKAS approved organisation for quality of the product, quality of the manufacturing process control systems and much more. A further part and very much a key aspect of the process is the appraisal of the test and assessment evidence to define a clear scope of how this product is to be used. This is absolutely fundamental it then removes all ambiguity. This appraisal should then be taken by the manufacture and reproduced in a graphical but clear and detailed way to ensure that all users of all levels of experience can fully understand how the product is to be used and installed correctly so that in the event of a fire the product will do what it was designed and tested to do. It is clearly one of the issues that has been raised by the Hackett review and following further reviews we are all hopeful that it then becomes statutory, not just for tall buildings but for all buildings. Rather than waiting for this legislation would it not be easier for the industry to "Raise the Bar" and not wait for Government. How can this be done? Specifiers and buyers only use third party certified products. Trade associations insist that their members must use third party certified products. Installer certification organisations insist that their members must use third party certified products. As an industry if we can achieve these straightforward steps above then it will make a significant difference. So it doesn't matter if it is not statutory to use products that are 3rd Party Certified because as an industry we can "Raise the Bar!" and make this the norm before it becomes statutory. If you would like an independent check on the products you are using or specifying then please get in touch for a chat.

Are you a Building Owner? "Building owners could face unlimited fines following new measures being brought in to strengthen fire safety, the Home Office has announced today." Home Office, UK Government. The UK Government is slowly starting to take steps to impose tougher legislation to assist in enforcement for anyone caught breaching fire safety regulations, obstructing a fire inspector or impersonating a fire safety officer. These new measures, announced as part of the government’s response to the Fire Safety Consultation, will come into force as part of the legislation in the Building Safety Bill. "Everyone should be safe in the buildings where they live, stay or work...our new measures will improve fire safety and help save lives, but will also take firm action against those who fail in their duty to keep people safe." Lord Greenhalgh, Fire Minister. The measures will amend the Fire Safety Order and will improve the quality of fire risk assessments and competence of those who complete them. This is long overdue and there is a long way to go to improve on this service offering. There are still individuals and companies carrying out surveys and inspections of poor quality, hopefully this will start to put this right, but it will take time. What are the new measures? Improve the quality of fire risk assessments and competence of those who complete them. Ensure vital fire safety information is preserved over the lifespan of all regulated buildings. Improve cooperation and coordination amongst people responsible for fire safety and making it easier to identify who they are. Strengthen enforcement action, with anyone impersonating or obstructing a fire inspector facing unlimited fines. Strengthen guidance issued under the Fire Safety Order so that failure to follow it may be considered in court proceedings as evidence of a breach or of compliance. Improve the engagement between Building Control Bodies and Fire Authorities in reviewing plans for building work. Require all new flats above 11 metres tall to install premises information boxes. What do you do next? Are you Compliant? Don't wait for this to become law! Give us a call to discuss your current situation and what you need to do next and how we can assist.