FIRE SAFETY
2000s, to a low of approximately 211,000 in 2015. It has stayed around this level, with the proportion of total incidents dealt with by the Fire Service in England in the year ending September 2021 which were false alarms being 41%.14 The Building Research Establishment (BRE) has reported that false alarms generated from remotely monitored fire detection and fire alarm systems have cost industry and Fire and Rescue Services an estimated £1 bn in the UK in the period 2020 to 2021. This situation leads to deleterious effects on people’s confidence generally on the significance or otherwise of a fire alarm activation. In buildings with high staff turnover, such as hospitals, a proven method of reducing false alarms is ensuring that there are proper procedures in place to train new staff on how to deal with unwanted fire signals.15
Close co-operation between
local Fire and Rescue Services and the Responsible Person for fire safety within NHS Trusts has been effective in seeing the number of false alarms across the sector decline.
References 1 Dame Judith Hackett. Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety: Final Report. Building a Safer Future: Final Report. Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government. May 2018.
https://tinyurl.com/36rda8ae
2 Health and Safety Executive. Building Safety Regulator.
https://tinyurl.com/ yckubnnt
3 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government press release, 2 August 2021. New planning requirements of fire safety come into force. https://tinyurl. com/56bt6p67
4 Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2020. Building safety advice for building owners, including fire doors.
https://tinyurl.com/3jmvhanv
5 Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The Building Regulations 2010 Fire Safety Approved Document B, Volume 1 Dwellings.
6 National Health Service, 2021. Estates Returns Information Collection – Summary page and dataset for ERIC 2020/21. NHS Digital, 14 October.
7 Competence Steering Group for Building a Safer Future, 2020. Setting the bar, a new competence regime for building a safer future.
https://tinyurl.com/ yck6wduh
8 Handy C. Understanding Organizations. 1993, Penguin, London.
9 HTM 05: Managing Healthcare Fire Safety. Department of Health and Social Care, 31 August 2021. https://tinyurl. com/2uztht42
10 BS 9999:2017. Fire safety in the design, management and use of buildings – code
110 Health Estate Journal October 2022
of practice. British Standards Institution, 2017.
11 BS 9997: 2019 Fire risk management systems – Requirements with guidance for use. British Standards Institution, 2019.
12 Scoping Review: Update of the Firecode HTMs. 6 July 2022 Version 2.1.
13 Health Estate Journal. ‘Sampling the Benefits of Aspirating Fire Detection’.
Published 22 February 2013. https://
tinyurl.com/3ubkhcnd
14 Home Office, 2022. National Statistics, Fire and Rescue Incident Statistics: England, year ending September 2021.
https://tinyurl.com/4rcvnrzp
15 Chagger R, Smith D. The causes of false fire alarms in buildings. Building Research Establishment, 2014.
Louise Webb
Louise Webb MBChB, MSc Computer Studies, PGCert, Chartered IT Professional, Fellow of the British Computer Society, APMP, and Associate of SVHSoc, is a Chartered IT professional, and Project director of DRLC, Consulting Engineers. DRLC works mainly with NHS Trusts supplying them with technical expertise and Authorising Engineers in Ventilation, Fire Safety, Pressure Systems, and Medical Gases. Louise started her career as a medical student at Edinburgh University, before gaining an MSC in Computer Studies at Sheffield Hallam University, and spending five years at Sheffield heavy engineering company, Davy McKee. She later worked for BT as a senior project manager, gaining an NVQ Level 4 in Project Management, and helping Google get its first UK servers installed. She also managed the implementation of firewalls for FTSE100 financial services companies, and was instrumental in rolling out broadband to schools in Yorkshire and Humberside.
She later set up DRLC, winning work from clients including Leeds City Council and the Department of Health. Having been asked to create an online project management training module by Sheffield Hallam University, she enjoyed teaching, going on to teach at Hallam University, the University of Sheffield, the University of Bedfordshire, and Anglia Ruskin University. As Project director, Louise has helped DRLC grow over the past six years.
David Butler
David Butler BSc, MIFE, MIFSM, MIFPO, is the lead Fire Safety auditor for DRLC, and a well-respected consultant within the fire safety industry. He has gained extensive experience of the healthcare sector during the past 15 years as the Fire Safety manager for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.
He has been involved in the fire industry for over 46 years as an operational firefighter at Sheffield Fire & Safety, progressing to the rank of Divisional Officer, and head of Fire Safety Policy and Development in 1999. Much of his fire service career has involved fire safety implementation measures and enforcing fire safety legislation. His comprehensive experience includes working on a wide variety of building types and occupancies, and he has a proven record in fire safe design review and the development, dissemination, and implementation, of organisational fire safety policy. David is a Member of the Institution of Fire Engineers, the Institution of Fire Safety Managers, and the Institution of Fire Prevention Managers. He also holds a BSc in Fire Service Studies, and has attended many courses at the Fire Service College up to the level of Divisional Command, including the Specialist Fire Prevention course. Most recently, David completed the CO7 FPA Advanced Fire Risk Assessment course organised by NAHFO. His recent audit experience includes such work at a number of NHS Trusts countrywide.
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