This week’s threat of industrial action by the Fire Brigade Union (FBU) is bringing into sharp focus the need by businesses and building owners to check and update their alarm systems, according to ELECSA, one of the UK’s fastest growing competent person scheme for fire safety certification.
Councils across the UK are this week putting in place contingency plans for a four hour strike by members of the FBU on Wednesday (25th September) in response to Government proposals for pension provision for fire-fighters.
“This call for action is a reminder to us all about prevention and making sure that businesses and shared used premises have adequate fire alarm provision,” said Will Lloyd, the fire safety technical manager for ELECSA.
“It is too late when there has been a fire – and sadly too many building owners are still paying lip service to fire regulations or treating them like a tick-box exercise,” he said.
He argues that it is not just checking alarms are working to alert in the case of genuine blazes, but also that they are correctly fitted in the first place and do not trigger false alarms.
In the year between 2011 and 2012 there were 223,000 fires resulting in 304 deaths and more than 2,400 non-fatal injuries. Of these incidents, more than half were in the home. During the same period time were a staggering 249,000 false alarms.
These bogus call outs are often triggered by ‘active’ fire safety equipment – alarms – being falsely set off because they have been poorly fitted or not been correctly maintained, something Lloyd argues should have tighter regulations.
“ELECSA provides BAFE fire certification because it is often undertaken by electrical contractors who recognise the importance of delivering this work to set industry standards and BAFE is the leading certification scheme for contractors wanting to demonstrate their competence in the fire sector,” added Lloyd.
“But there is a process of education and people responsible for facilities and maintenance of properties need to be appreciate the importance of knowing when the fire detection and alarms system were last serviced, by whom and how did they know they were competent to do the work? Also, do they have a current fire risk assessment? When was it last reviewed? These are all burning questions for building owners who have a duty upon them to avoid fires and false alarm activations.”
“These are questions that facilities managers need to constantly ask themselves and if they are unsure, they need to consult a BAFE approved contractor.
“It shouldn’t be the case that we wait for industrial action for fire fighters to prompt us to think about the safety of the buildings we use every day – these questions should be hard-wired into the DNA of the people in charge of any public, commercial or shared use building.”
image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LFB_Pump_Ladder.jpg
