Ticking the right boxes for fire regulations in the construction stage of buildings is simply not enough, the CEO of the Association of Specialist Fire Protection has said.

Wilf Butcher: "Putting measures in place is simply not enough

Addressing delegates at the Fire and Rescue Conference yesterday, Wilf Butcher said the problems facing fire protection were in maintaining buildings after construction is signed off, in a presentation titled: Apathy, ignorance and denial in fire protection.

The answer to disasters like Lakanal House was not necessarily putting tougher building regulations in place, but more stringent management of existing regulations, he argued.

“With BS 9999 there is an expected level of fire safety management by which the suitability of a solution can be assessed and there is a fundamental assumption that the building will remain managed throughout its lifetime,” he said.

“Often, defects are caused by mixed trade contracts where accountability is lacking, or when follow-on trades cause damage to the excellent work they inherit.

“Most frequently, the subsequent addition of new services, IT cables included, directly damage the fire stopping provisions originally provided.”

He went on to say that assigning responsibility to combat incompetent workmanship was not enough, and that while building regulations were all in place, those responsible should “dig beneath the surface.”

“It simply is not good enough to state that measures exist to ensure against incompetent workmanship and that all in the chain of events will take ownership of their responsibilities, utilising properly qualified people and proper independent audit.”

He also suggested that perceived dangers in the use of timber frames in construction were common misconceptions.

“Wood may burn,” he said, “but at a measurable rate, hence fire doors made from wood.

“Structural steel will at a sufficiently high temperature go ductile, and concrete when heated is likely to spall or explode under thermal shock.”

Also speaking was the assistant commissioner of fire safety regulation at London Fire Brigade, Steve Turek, who said an increase in serious fires in the capital in new and refurbished buildings was due to faulty workmanship during and after construction, poor specification of materials and lack of adequate building control and signoff.

The presentation, given at Harrogate International Centre, looked at recent serious incidents and how fire and rescue services, building control and manufacturers, as well as architects,  might work together to better protect property. Other speakers were Beryl Menzies, former president of the Association of Building Engineers and Bob Hendricks, chief of the Lexington, Kentucky fire service.

Menzies, who previously worked in building control for London’s Tower Hamlets council, warned against a ‘knee jerk’ reaction in response to Lakanal House. She said any plans for tougher building regulations might be best to be put on hold until the Lakanal House investigation is concluded.

“Please do not have a knee jerk reaction”, she urged delegates. “ We need to do these things properly otherwise they are worse than useless.”