FIRE SAFETY
A smoke alarm being tested with an ionisation tester.
New legislation In April 2022 the Building Safety Act became an Act of Parliament. This legislation came about as a direct result of the Grenfell Inquiry report findings. While the Act is mostly concerned with addressing the risk to life from fires in high-risk residential buildings, a number of its clauses apply to hospital premises. The Act is intended to fundamentally reform the legislation around the design and construction of all buildings. It is also aimed at improving the fire safety in higher-risk residential buildings. The Act uses the concept of ‘duty holders’, and sets out a framework of duties for these people and organisations. These duty holders are the stakeholders who commission, design, and undertake building work to which Building Regulations apply. Using terms used in the most used forms of building contract, the duty holders are the client, principal designer, designers, principal contractors, and contractors. The new framework requires that duty holders will need to work together to plan, manage, and monitor the design work and the building work, ensure they cooperate and communicate with each other, coordinate their work, and have systems in place to ensure that building work – including design work – complies with all relevant Building Regulations.
Competency requirements The regulations also set out the competence requirements that those duty holders will need to have to undertake work and ensure that those they appoint are also competent to carry out that work. The new standard applies to buildings that are at least 18 metres in height, or have at least seven storeys, and have a minimum of two residential units. It also applies to care homes and hospitals meeting the same height threshold during design and construction, but, importantly, not during occupation. The advent of the new Building
A manual call point which will activate a fire alarm when the glass is broken.
Regulator signposts a fresh approach to regulating building safety. Although the scope of the Act is confined to a subset of particular buildings, its approach is almost certain to affect the construction industry across the board, as it takes into account the inquiry response to the Grenfell Tower fire, and applies the findings to the construction and fire safety industries in general. A Competency Steering Group has been
working with a number of stakeholders to look at ways of improving competency within the industries that make up the
Organisation type Power culture
construction sector, particularly in relation to fire safety. The stated aim of this working group is to create a template for improving competency, and in so doing encourage a change in the culture for those covered by the new regulations. The Competency Steering Group has produced a report: Setting the bar: A new competency regime for building a safer future.7
Implementation of the new Competency Regime The new system involves putting in place a comprehensive suite of competence
Typical characteristics
• Small entrepreneurial organisations • Revolves around focal people • Little bureaucracy
• Moves & reacts quickly Role culture
• Characterised by procedures and pre-defined roles
• Instructions go from top down • Stereotyped by bureaucracy & hierarchy • Slow to react & change • Stable environments – typically Government depts – e.g. NHS, Civil Service
Task culture
• Job or project orientated • Match people to jobs • Team culture
• Individuals exert control over jobs • Adaptable to change
Person-centred culture • Exists to serve the individual • Control by mutual consent • Influence is shared
• Contrasts with ‘Power culture’ – in ‘Person culture’, each person can be the focal point, depending on the circumstances • Adaptable to change
Table 1: Charles Handy’s framework of organisational culture types8 describes four organisational types.
October 2022 Health Estate Journal 107
Architectural partnership
Small
construction companies
Example
Single person Authorising Engineer company
NHS Trusts
Photo courtesy of PPL Training Ltd.
Photo courtesy of PPL Training Ltd.
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