The British Safety Council has responded to the
initial Grenfell Tower Inquiry report and looked ahead to the second phase will
consider the underlying causes of the disaster, including the decisions made
around the design and construction of the cladding, the regulatory regime and
the response of central and local government.
At the time of the tragedy in 2017, the British Safety
Council asked that the prime minister “scraps the government’s approach to
health and safety deregulation and thinks again”. The organisation now
reiterates that sentiment.
Commenting on the findings of Phase 1 of the inquiry,
Mike Robinson, Chief Executive of the British Safety Council, said: “This is a
lengthy and detailed report and the industry will rightly take time to digest
its details. However, it is clear there were serious shortcomings in the
procedures for evacuating Grenfell Tower and in the readiness of the fire
brigade, notwithstanding the individual heroism of the firefighters on the
night.”
He went on to say: “As we look ahead to Phase 2 of the
inquiry, lessons must be learnt about the choice of materials used to clad
Grenfell Tower and the regulatory regime for high-rise buildings. As we said at
the time of the fire, we urge all politicians to re-emphasise the need for
effective health and safety regulation and competent fire risk management.
These are fundamental to saving lives and sustaining our communities.
“Our thoughts must be with the families of the victims
and the survivors of that tragedy. This detailed and important inquiry could
not have taken place without their willingness to relive the horror of 14 June
2017. We can honour the victims’ memory by making sure that this tragedy can
never happen again.”
The British Safety Council welcomes recommendations of
the report relating to proactive fire door inspections, enhanced firefighting
lift inspections and a significant increase in the provision of information to
the fire enforcing authority.
James Lewis, Head of Audit and Consultancy at the
British Safety Council, said: “In course of our extensive work with owners
and managers of property, we have seen countless examples of failure to
maintain fire safety standards at the required levels. All too often, we see
fire doors left un-managed and damaged, a resistance from building owners and
operators to communicate and cooperate with the fire enforcing authority, as
well as failures to provide suitable and sufficient information to buildings’
occupiers.”
The British Safety Council welcomes the following
recommendations from the executive summary of the report and calls for the
government to consider their implementation:
- Section 6, A
and B – Legal requirement for the provision of up-to-date plans to the
local fire and rescue service and provision of premises information boxes,
- Section 7, A
and B – Legal requirement for enhanced checks of firefighting lifts and
provision of information to the local fire and rescue service,
- Section 12, D
– Provision (for all existing and future buildings) for the local fire and
rescue service to send an evacuation signal to all residents of high-rise
buildings,
- Section 15,
33:28 – Legal requirement for owners and operators of every residential
building to provide information and instruction to residents in a format
that can be reasonably understood by all,
- Section 16, A
and B – Urgent inspection of all fire doors of every residential building
which contains separate dwellings, as well as a legal requirement to
inspect fire doors on a quarterly basis.
