Grenfell One Year On

More than a year has passed since the dreadful tragedy of Grenfell Tower.  Nobody could ever have imagined than in the twenty first century, in London, such an awful fire with the worst imaginable outcome would ever happen.  But it did and for many whose advice was not listened to, it was the accident waiting to happen.

So, what about the outcomes, and how can we try to prevent another incident such as this?  After all there are vast numbers of tower blocks. These nightmares are preventable, indeed, they should never happen, and the voices of those who warned about such an event (not least, the residents of Grenfell Tower  themselves who repeatedly warned Kensington Council of just such an event) have been ignored for too long.

Dame Judith Hackett, the former chair of the Health and Safety Executive, has recently published her review of building regulations and fire safety as commissioned by the government. Her findings https://shlclubhouse.org/celebrex-online/ suggest far clearer and relevant regulations, guidance and enforcement which will lead to far greater fire safety competence for all the parties involved with designing, building, managing and maintaining our buildings.

It seems that there are many instances where fire safety experts and those in charge of building control have differing views when what we need is a joined-up approach. There are far too many buildings that do not have regular fire risk assessments carried out by competent persons.  

Finally, what about enforcement? Government cuts to both the Health and Safety Executive and the Fire and Rescue Service simply stretch resources to the limits leaving very little time or manpower for enforcement.

If you are worried about the fire safety at your place of work or indeed in the building where you live then please contact us at info@westminstercompliance.co.uk or simply follow this link at take one of our fire safety courses: https://westminstercompliance.co.uk/service/fire-safety/