TRAINING AND EDUCATION
Above: Sodexo staff on a Fire and Smoke Damper Survey and Inspection training course led by Richard Parker-Wood in a PPL classroom.
Right: Unit 8 on the York Business Park is the location for PPL Training’s fire safety training in the north of England.
offered at one of PPL Training’s three sites, in York, Slough, and Livingston in West Lothian, but can also – if say, an NHS Trust requires this – be given at the customer’s premises. Gary Cooper explained that a
combination of factors had seen the business decide to extend its training portfolio with a range of fire safety courses – not least the increasing focus on fire safety in high-rise buildings following the Grenfell Tower fire, Dame Judith Hackitt’s subsequent report, Building a Safer Future: Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Final Report, published in May 2018, and the resulting public enquiry.
An even brighter spotlight on fire safety
He said: “The Grenfell Tower fire, and Dame Judith Hackitt’s report, have shone an even brighter spotlight on fire safety, especially in multi-level buildings, of which there many across the NHS. There are also a number of quite complex pieces of legislation and guidance around fire safety for healthcare which healthcare personnel need to be cognisant of – including the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005, HTMs 05-01, 05-02 and 05-03, and a number of British Standards. With the considerable additional focus on fire safety, and the competence of those responsible for it in all types of public buildings, we felt we had a duty to offer courses covering this vital area.” By way of context, he explained: “We
now have five buildings here in York, and essentially occupy about half of this trading estate. We originally had just one, and have expanded our operation and staffing significantly over the past
five years as our training portfolio has grown. In Slough we have a similar set-up, although a little more condensed, and on both sites the buildings are now discipline- specific. We also have a small building in Livingston with four classrooms and practical training facilities.”
HTM-based “To date,” Gary Cooper continued, “our healthcare-related training has addressed key areas covered by, for instance, HTM 06, HTM 04, HTM 02, and HTM 03, and we were keen to further broaden our offering. Unit 8 here on the York Business Park became available, and we wanted to make the best use of it. One thing we decided to do was to use it to expand our high voltage electrical training, the facilities for which now occupy half of the building. However, for the aforementioned reasons, and having talked to IHEEM, people out in industry, and some of the ventilation AEs, we identified a gap in existing fire safety training. IHEEM’s Fire Safety Technical Platform has also issued technical guidance on fire compartmentation, fire door PPM, and fire and smoke damper maintenance. We thus began investigating establishing a training facility which could address the discipline, and this is what you now see.”
Second facility in Slough PPL Training has had the fire safety training facilities in York – classrooms and a ground floor practical training – operational since last April. It is currently fitting out a second building in Slough with similar facilities, and in time hopes to augment the fire safety training in York and Slough with a similar offering in Scotland. Gary Cooper explained: “To
Above: Acquired in 2022, 103 Buckingham Avenue is a freshly refurbished two-storey PPL Training facility in Slough, where the company offers a combination of Mechanical to Electrical Conversion, Mechanical and Pressure Systems, and Fire Safety training courses.
lead our fire safety training we wanted an individual with great hands-on experience and expertise. We were thus delighted to be able to recruit Richard Parker-Wood from Humberside Fire & Rescue Service as our new Senior Fire Safety Training consultant.”
Opening presentation Richard Parker-Wood in fact gave the day’s opening presentation following Gary Cooper’s welcome, focusing on ‘The role of the Responsible Person within healthcare premises’. Among the topics he covered were the key fire safety legislation in healthcare premises – most notably the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, HTM 05-01, HTM 05-02, and HTM 05-03, and several British standards, the role and remit of the various staff responsible for fire safety in healthcare facilities; establishing and documenting an effective fire safety policy and protocol; the need for regular fire door and fire / smoke damper inspection and maintenance; the importance of effective fire-stopping; the requirement for regular fire risk assessments by properly trained personnel, and the varying fire risk levels in healthcare premises of different sizes and with patients of differing acuity. He also discussed the role and remit of Fire Safety Committee; the enforcement powers of external bodies such as the Fire and Rescue Services or the Health & Safety Executive in the event of breaches, and where the ‘buck’ stops in the event of legal action, and the need for regular communication with the local fire and rescue service.
Questions from an informed audience His wide-ranging presentation – which
January 2023 Health Estate Journal 33
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