Wireless Fire Detection for Housing Associations and Homes of Multiple Occupancy
EMS understands the responsibilities and concerns facing Housing Associations today when it comes to fire protection. Recent changes in fire legislation and updates to the way disabled and vulnerable persons are affected are a constant topic, in terms of interpretation and compliance.
Their knowledge about Risk Assessment and who is capable or competent in carrying out Risk Assessment can add to the confusion about reasonability, and what course of action to take.
As a subscriber to the National Housing Federation (NHF), as well as being involved with many Associations over the years, we aim to assist members in addressing some of these concerns, to look at best practice as well as facilitating a route to safer housing for all tenants. To this end we offer FREE seminars, or one to one consultations, to look at and examine these issues, additionally we also provide CPD presentations which can be booked by clicking here.
Whilst Risk Assessment is written into law, the omission of a requirement for competency was omitted.
There are approaching 2,000 housing associations across the UK with something like 2.5 million homes to look after and care for.
EMS has the understanding and experience to advise on how to comply with the law as well as on how to best protect the many types of property that exist across the various Association portfolios.
As the leading manufacturer of radio fire systems and products, EMS can also advise on cost savings around installation as well as the effects following an installation, such as redecoration and remedial repairs where cables have been run throughout a property. These are often hidden costs not taken into account when looking at capital expenditure for fire safety.
Then there is the convenience, as an installation is reliant on tenant’s availability. Wireless fire systems installations are unaffected by normal living patterns as each property is protected as and when it suits the tenant and the Association. In addition, inconvenience is limited as typically installation times are drastically reduced. This benefits tenants, association and installer.
Older properties, which could have asbestos, present a different problem: how to install and provide protection without disturbing the fabric of the building. This potentially could have many implications: how to physically install devices such as smoke detectors, how to look after the tenant’s safety, and of course the costs.
These could include the removal of asbestos, alternative accommodation as well as remedial works following the removal, and prior to tenants moving back home.
Again a radio based system, like FireCell, could be the answer.
Then there’s the issue around fire stopping where properties are protected by fire compartments, which are sometimes breached when running cables between each home.
On 3rd July 2009, a fire swept through Lakanal House tragically claiming the lives of six occupants and injuring 15 more including fire-fighters who attended the scene that day. The building that was built in 1959 comprised of 92 flats.
The fire originally broke out in a flat on the 9th floor and quickly spread. Blocks such as this one should be safe for an hour before fire jumps from floor to floor. However, in the case of Lakanal House the fire spread much quicker making evacuation more difficult with dreadful consequences.
One of the key findings, other than the lack of protection within individual dwellings, was the fact that the integrity of the fire compartments had been breached throughout the building, causing the fire to spread much quicker than anticipated. This “breaching” had been done over many years and the consequences never addressed until the fire in July 2009.
It is unfortunately a fact that there are many buildings which may well be in a similar condition.
Fire Facts
Courtesy of the Local Government Group publication: Fire safety in purpose-built blocks of flats - July 2011
- People living in flats experience more fires than people living in houses. However, a fire in a flat is no more dangerous than a fire in a house.
- Generally, people are safer from fire in their homes than at any time in recent history. In 1979, 865 people in the UK died from fires in dwellings. Over thirty years later, the number of deaths had fallen to 353, a reduction of 60 per cent, and the lowest figure since official records began in 1960.
- In England, around 10 per cent of the population live in a purpose-built flat. Yet, during 2009-2010, around 25 per cent of dwelling fires occurred within purpose-built blocks of flats. As a result, in that year, 23 per cent of all fire deaths in dwellings occurred in these blocks.
- The most significant influences on fire risk are social and lifestyle factors and advanced age, not the type of dwelling in which people live.
- The FSO imposes duties on persons who may include freeholders, landlords, managing agents and contractors who maintain fire safety measures and those who carry out fire risk assessments.
- An offence is committed if inadequate fire safety measures place people at risk of death or serious injury in case of fire.
- When a block of flats is designed and constructed, Building Regulations specify requirements in respect of various fire safety measures. However, there is no ongoing control for the maintenance of these measures under Building Regulations; the regulations have no further effect until there are proposals for alterations. After the block is occupied, control of fire safety is transferred to the Housing Act 2004 and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
- For blocks of flats, the Building Regulations 2010 make requirements for various fire safety measures, including means of escape, structural fire precautions, smoke control and facilities for the fire and rescue service. The Building Regulations apply to new building work, such as:
• Erection of a new block of flats
• Extension of an existing block
• Material alterations.
