(Photo: Clandon Park fire 2015, Colin Smith under CC2.0)
I think that it’s important to look back at what we’ve learnt from this tragic failure of our fire safety laws.
To add to this we now have the Grenfell Tower Fire, surely the worst UK fire in living memory.
I am also including some of the fire safety failures that I found during my recent undercover inspection of hotels in the South West for the BBC to illustrate the problem.
One part of this tragic incident – which I wrote about in 2011 if you’re unfamiliar with the details – that has remained with me over this period is this statement given by one of the witnesses at the inquest.
She told the inquest how she saw one of the victims, 80-year old Joan Harper, trapped in her blazing room. She said that firefighters with just one engine and no firefighting ladder were ill-equipped to come to the rescue. Describing the moment firemen did arrive at the scene, she is quoted as saying:
“Everybody was shouting at the fire brigade to save the lady, but they did not take any actions to save her… When I saw their single fire engine with one hosepipe, this just reinforced my despair. They did not have the capability to deal with the fire.”
Tragically, this was not the only fatality as Peter Hughes jumped from a third story window and his 86-year old mother, Monica Hughes, also perished.
At the inquest, many other factors that came to light including a poor fire risk assessment, poor access, lack of water, lack of equipment (high-rise ladder) and the FRS (Fire and Rescue Service) being sent to the wrong address.
“I wish that the old system of fire certification with annual inspection was still in place.” Hotelier interviewed in a recent BBC investigation
Following this incident the FRS went around the country informing interested parties about this fire. When I asked them about failures such as being sent to the wrong address they replied that “they had no knowledge of this” – but these items are clearly in the inquest records, both written and recorded.
While obviously I cannot say a lot about this fire, I think it is important to say that, if what has been reported in the media is true, then there are a number of similarities to the Penhallow Hotel fire, particularly in respect of people being trapped in the building and the late arrival of a high rise ladder.
We are always informed following these tragic incidents “that we must learn from these tragic fires so they never happen again”. So what have we learnt in the last 10 years?
Clearly when we find out what happened in the Grenfell Tower fire there does need to be some major changes. Brexit should give us an opportunity to reform fire safety regulations but I wonder if the will and impetus is there to make the radical changes that in my opinion are needed.
Grenfell has also put the approach to investigating serious fires under the spotlight. I have stated many times that we need to establish a more robust, independent and open system that people can trust and respect.
While fire certificates issued under the Fire Precautions Act had their drawbacks, I think that on balance it was a far better system than fire risk assessments, which in my opinion don’t really work.
There are many reasons for this and one of them is how the legislation is enforced. Figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act showed that the number of specialist staff in 26 fire services fell from 924 to 680, a loss of 244 officers, between 2011 and 2017.
Between 2011 and 2016, government funding for fire services was slashed by between 26% and 39%, according to the National Audit Office, resulting in a 17% average real-terms reduction in spending power.
294 people died in fires in England during 2015, a year on year increase of 21% and the largest rise since figures were first published in 2001-02
Together with cuts to the FRS we have to look at how risk assessments are carried out. With no real standard assessment in place and poorly defined competency levels this was a recipe for failure.
I found these words from a well respected hotelier during the BBC investigation very interesting:
“I wish that the old system of fire certification with annual inspection was still in place. The interesting thing here is that back in the 70s/80s each fire brigade interpreted legislation differently from area to area.
“The problem now is that consultants and operators interpret differently, which of course in turn leads to a plethora of interpretations. In addition, it is hard enough being a good hotelier let alone an expert in health and safety/fire/food safety etc etc as well. However, we do try to comply coupled with contracted professional guidance.”
While the RRO (Fire Safety Order) appears on the surface to offer a better solution to our fire safety needs by placing the onus on the ‘responsible person’, in practice I don’t think that it works for the following reasons:
The latest figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government show that 294 people died in fires in England during 2015, an increase of 21% compared with the 242 deaths recorded in 2014 and the largest increase since figures were first published in 2001-02.
The rise bucks the trend of a falling death toll since a 2003 peak of 469 – and the 80 or so deaths caused by the Grenfell blaze suggest the figure may well rise again in 2017.
There are a number of significant fires that I think highlight why the system doesn’t work and these are just four that highlight the tragic loss of life, our heritage and to fire service personnel.
I looked at this investigation because I was a National Trust member and would like to have seen what the Trust’s investigation had to say and because I had concerns about the risk assessment report. But even though I registered an official request and complaint, the National Trust has never disclosed what steps they took to protect our heritage – neither did they address my complaint.
While there was no life loss in this fire it shows how difficult it is to get answers to questions raised by the media and public.
This hotel was destroyed by a fire that started in Cathedral Green in Exeter. Again, it raised questions from the media and public – including from myself – that still haven’t been answered.
Tragically, six people, including three children, died on the 10th and 11th floors. It was reported that “those who died had been told to stay in their homes by 999 operators, who believed fire safety measures would be sufficient to prevent flames and smoke from reaching them”.
Southwark council admitted it failed to address fire risks at Lakanal House in Camberwell, south-east London in the years leading up to the then worst ever tower block fire in the UK.
On 2 November 2007 a major fire occurred at a warehouse near the village of Atherstone-on-Stour in Warwickshire. Four firefighters from Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service were killed while tackling the blaze.
This was the largest loss of life for a fire brigade in the United Kingdom for 35 years.
This is the third investigation I have carried out for the BBC and it does not convince me that fire safety is improving – quite the opposite in fact .
The BBC asked me to look at two hotels that had recently appeared on the enforcement register. The first one was so bad that I notified the FRS of my concerns because of a missing fire door at the head of the stairs and a fire exit that would not open.
The second one had done some fire safety improvement work but still had many problems, including combustible rubbish and compressed gas cylinders stored under an external fire escape, poor fire compartmentation and poorly fitting fire doors.
The third hotel, I could see, had carried out a lot of fire safety work but needed improvement because of poor housekeeping, unprotected escape routes, “wedged open” fire doors and poor electrical installation.
However, the hotel owner was very cooperative and agreed to action the items I had raised.
The fourth hotel was not covered in the TV programme but one that I had stayed in. This was a hotel with a distinguished 150-year history together with many fire safety problems – these were just a few:
Hotel bedroom fire door with lock removed
Corridor fire door poorly fitting at head
Poorly fitting fire door in corridor
Unprotected window adjacent to external fire escape
This is where both fire escapes meet – note the portable building and ventilation plant under the common bridge and staircase
I noted many more problems in a letter to the hotel, to which the FRS and hotel responded indicating that they wanted to resolve the issues.
Clearly, this hotel would have had a fire certificate under the Fire Precautions Act and several fire risk assessments under the RRO – so how did we get to this position?
Unfortunately, I find many hotels with similar problems and this is why I feel the RRO is not working.
I wonder if a combination of fire certificates and risk assessments may provide a better solution
During the course of the BBC investigation I stayed in two hotels and visited two more and all four had problems of varying concern. In one the FRS took seven bedrooms out of use following my report because a fire door had been removed at the head of a staircase and a fire exit would not open. This hotel had recently been the subject of enforcement action.
The last 10 years have seen some significant failures of UK fire safety standards, both in relation to life and property safety.
It is hoped that the outcome of investigations into the Grenfell tragedy will provide an answer. I think that with Brexit on the horizon, we need to think about how we can overcome these problems with a more open and transparent fire safety regime that people can have confidence in.
Having started my career in the age of fire certificates, I am well aware of the advantages and disadvantages of this form of control. I wonder if a combination of fire certificates and risk assessments may provide a better solution.
This could take the form of a combined building control and fire certification authority that certifies building structure and approves the occupier’s ‘operational plan’ for its use.
It does appear inconsistent that we can go to a restaurant and find out its ‘hygiene rating’ or buy a car and see its ‘crash rating’, but there’s no equivalent rating system for the buildings we visit or work or sleep in.
It would be nice to get this information via Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, but the FRS are constrained by the Data Protection Act and sometimes claim that they cannot provide such information because it could be used for acts of terrorism.
I recently sought to establish how many fire risk assessments that selected FRS’ had carried out in hotels and how many were found to be unsatisfactory. I was surprised by the range of replies.
While some gave me their figures, one indicated that they did not record such information and another demanded a payment of £450 for access. I thought this was fairly basic information that should be easily available.
Now is the time for the fire safety profession to get behind a scheme that improves fire safety to protect people and our heritage – not just to protect organisations or vested interests.
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Since I wrote the above article I had a short stay in a a very nice 4 star hotel that was part of a well known UK chain and on my usual walk around I noted a number of concerns relating to fire safety standards and these included: 1. A deadlocked fire exit (no means of opening) 2. A number of fire doors that were “wedged open” 3. A number of fire doors without smoke or intumescent strips together with incorrect hardware. 4. An external fire escape not adequately protected. I sent the hotel my comments together with photographs and… Read more »
Individual failing in your chosen hotel don’t show a failure of a piece of legislation, neither do firefighters that are ill equipped to deal with an incident. The lack of intumescent strips and seals on hotel rooms is well documented in a determination in May 2012. As an inspecting officer I started out with the FP Act. Everything was black or white, However, I also remember not being able to bring any hotel that had been certificated in the early 70s up to a decent standard in 2004, because they hadn’t made any changes in that 30 years. In short,… Read more »
Had to tell a Wiltshire FRS fire safety officer the legislation about his powers as he was fobbing me off over my second attempt to get exit doors unlocked in a public place. Also still have the letter from CBI after I raised concerns 10 years ago, they patronised me.
An interesting article. You look mainly at hotels but the issues you raise are not confined to them, but to other life risk premises as well. When the RRO came in in 2005, under the labour government, it fundamentally changed fire safety legislation, for the worse. Certification was a safe method of inspection with both the inspecting officer and the occupier knowing the premise was to a reasonable standard. The current methodology of risk assessment is very poor and often puts occupants and the occupier at risk as the assessor is not qualified to a good standard. Only the IFE… Read more »
I agree that individual failings in my chosen hotel don’t show a failure of a piece of legislation and that was why I highlighted a range of buildings – all of which exhibited fire safety failings of one form or another. As a matter of interest I produced the first ever Fire Door Educational Package in 1993 that was purchased by nearly every fire and building control authority in the UK and was used for many years at the Fire Service College and this showed very graphically the problems with both intumescent and smoke seals together with all of the… Read more »
I am pleased that your FRS would give an immediate response because that is what I would have expected but you would be surprised how many FRS don’t even bother to send an acknowledgement and quite often I have to send a FOI request to ascertain if it has been received.
The RR(FS)O has not failed, people have failed it. I too remember working in fire certification and it was chaos. We didn’t cover anything like the number and types of premises that is now covered by the FSO so that alone was a huge failing of the system. Secondly, fire safety departments were hugely inefficient and ‘difficult’ jobs were constantly pushed to the bottom of trays. Yes, I grant you we have pretty good national training provided by the college but no one was trained to fire engineer level so people were sent to discuss complex sites based on rank… Read more »
Dear Mr Cox, I totally concur with all your comments. I am finding that I am questioning the effectiveness of FRS Enforcement officers as to their ability to enforce the legislation due to lack of knowledge and experience. I also find that those non metropolitan officers who live and work locally are ”too near to the coal face’ to be firm with their enforcement approach for example, by advising the occupant of a building (both being members of the same golf club) that the action plan recommendations from a fire risk assessment carried out by a very experience consultant was… Read more »
The IFE are not the only source of audited fire risk assessors. FRACS run by Exova Warrington is there as well. Return to Fire Certification is not the whole answer. There are issues with the current system, Part 3 of the Fire (Scotland) Act as well as RRO. There was a a false assumption when the legislation was introduced all responsible persons/ duty holders, could carry out the FRA. There has been a burgeoning industry of peopel carrying out fire risk assessments – note that I don’t call them fire risk assessors because most aren’t. This added to the squeeze… Read more »
Alan, I like your suggestion of a fire safety rating system as an equivalent to the food hygiene rating system and I suppose such a system could be adapted to reflect the occupation of the building as well as the building type. I think people deserve to be better informed at how much at risk they are and they should be encouraged to complain if some aspect of fire safety is discomforting them. A fire safety rating system might include a more formalised reporting of complaints. Following the conclusion of the Grenfell Inquiry, whether or not we choose to alter… Read more »
An interesting article, with some valid points, and likewise coming from a career which started in the 80’s, I too remember the certification process. when the RRO came in (as far as I remember, it was to bring together all the bits bits of legislation/regulations (71 in all I seem to remember, but it could have been more) which dealt with Fire. An admirable idea, and by giving the owner responsibility removed the FRS from the equation and made them the enforcers or such like. Roll on the years! After searing cuts in the budgets, staff numbers were reduced, and… Read more »
I agree completely that the FSO has not failed – I work for a local authority undertaking fire risk assessments in schools (approaching 8000 now) many of which did not have a fire certificate prior to 2006. I know that the fire safety in all of them is much better than it was. We still have a way to go but look at where we have come from. Safety culture plays a big part too. we have new buildings designed with compartmentation issues so yes the building regulations have not failed us but the application of them occasionally goes astray.… Read more »
Really interesting article, working as an FM in both public and private sectors I am often stunned by the lack of understanding of the legislation and reluctance by property professionals to challenge FRAs suitability or the skills,knowledge & experience of the person completing it. Quite often its treated as a paper exercise just to say you have the FRA. My own view is that the culture and attitude needs to change. I’m not convinced its the legislation. I now ensure that anywhere that I go to work that I educate staff & teams of their responsibilities and how it affects… Read more »
I fully agree with the contents of this report
The UK cannot afford to address the failings of the RRO and the underfunding of the Fire & Rescue Services. Grenfell should convince the legislators that “this time” there should be change both of existing fire law and Building Regulations.
Without a comprehensive and fundamental change both fatalities and property damage will inevitably increase.
John, You make some very interesting points in your comments and clearly your experiences were different to mine. The department that I worked in had 4 Inspecting Officers, a secretary and draughtsman and worked very efficiently – I agree that there were many premises that were not covered but let’s not forget that the FP Act was an enabling act that could have brought many other premises into its scope.
As you say it is difficult to go back and that is why I have suggested a possible solution that takes lessons from past legislation.
Harry, I have to agree with you about the effectiveness of FRS Enforcement Officers in respect of their ability and lack of knowledge and experience and this is something that I feel quite strongly about. I have recently discussed this one of the FRS Fire Safety Managers and was very surprised at the lack of training that these officers receive and I was informed that they are introducing a scheme that is intended to be a “quick fix” and that it is accepted that not all problems will be identified – I did point out that my inspections only covered… Read more »
Jim,
I agree that educating the public is something that is in urgent need of improvement even if we don’t change the regulatory framework.
One aspect that I have written about in the past is the provision of “graphic fire plans” in buildings and how these go a long way in helping both the public and staff to understand the fire safety measures in individual buildings – I see these in many countries that I visit but there is a complete lack of them in the UK.
RIBA calls for the repeal of the fire-safety-order. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has called for The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (RRFSO) to be disposed of, and the “reintroduction of mandatory fire certificates for designated premises, based on independent inspections by the fire brigades.” see https://www.ifsecglobal.com/riba-calls-repeal-fire-safety-order/ This is an interesting article and whilst there are some very valid points I think that the reintroduction of mandatory fire certificates for designated premises based on independent inspections by fire brigades would be very difficult because of some of the reasons that have been discussed in this article. An interesting… Read more »
Just to update the situation – one of the hotels that I visited with the BBC during the undercover investigation is being prosecuted.