Lakanal House: Free Guidance for Building Managers

Free seminars will be offered to professionals involved in the design, specification, construction, and management of buildings following the narrative verdicts of the deaths of six people at Lakanal House.

Chiltern International Fire (CIF) is offering the seminars, one of which has already taken place, to explain the duties of the responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, and to raise awareness about passive fire protection.

CIF has joined forces with the ASFP, Passive Fire Protection Federation, and the Fire Sector Federation, to promote better education and training of professionals involved in building design and management.

This is in response to the coroner’s findings that people need to be better trained to understand the principles of compartmentation in containing a fire.

In a statement, CIF’s technical manager, Mark Cummings, said:

If you have any responsibility for the fire safety of others, it is vital that you have an understanding of the role that passive fire protection products play in preventing the spread of fire and your obligations under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.

Lakanal particularly highlights the vital role played by compartmentation and demonstrates the tragic consequences which may ensue if such systems are not adequately specified, installed and maintained.

Click here to view Figure 1.

Last month, jurors returned narrative verdicts in the deaths of Catherine Hickman, Dayana Francisquini and her two children, and Helen Udoaka and her three-week-old daughter. They were critical of London Fire Brigade and Southwark Council for the events that led to the deaths, and cited missed opportunities to rectify flaws in the compartmentation and fire protection of Lakanal House.

The free guidance seminars are due to take place on 24 September in Birmingham, and in Manchester on 6 November. The London event took place on 1 May.

FIREX International
Meanwhile, at FIREX International next week, two sessions linked to the Lakanal House tragedy will be taking place. First, a panel discussion on Tuesday 14 May at 12:00 led by the Fire Sector Federation on the lessons to be learnt around fire protection in social housing, and later, at 16:00, a presentation from BRE Global’s David Crowder on the key findings from the Lakanal House inquest.

To register for FIREX International now, click here.

Related posts:

• The Difficulty of Finding a Fire Risk Assessor
• Stay-Put Principle Brought Into Question
• Lakanal House Verdict: Deaths Were Avoidable
• Lakanal House Had No Fire Risk Assessment