IHEEM REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2018
by road to site in the early hours for delivery on the morning of 19 June. Stuart Keen said: “We ended up lifting the cyclotron 30 minutes late due to some delay in unpacking and preparing it, which we were able to manage through communications, and the build-up culminated in the 10-1 countdown. As it neared the supports, it became clear that it would fit with millimetre accuracy. The day was a success.”
Fire safety in the wake of Grenfell Tower
Fire safety is a topic now never far from healthcare estates professionals’ minds, and in the final pre-lunch session, Gareth Lloyd, Fire advisor at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services, focused on ‘The Dame Hackitt Review and the implications for healthcare fire safety’ in the wake of the June 2017 Grenfell Tower fire. Looking at the findings of Dame Hackitt’s Final Report, Building a Safer Future, he noted that its main focus had been on High Rise Residential Buildings (or HRRBs) ‘of 10 storeys + high’, and that the authors had called for ‘major reform and change in culture’. He said: “The Report also promotes a HRRB framework, and the formation of a Joint Competent Authority, with LABC, Fire and Rescue Service, and Health and Safety Executive representation. It includes numerous recommendations for Government to consider extending to institutional residential buildings, but has been criticised for not tackling ‘cladding requirements’.” Key findings had included: n The roles and responsibilities of those procuring, designing, constructing, and maintaining buildings are ‘unclear’.
n The package of regulations and guidance (in the form of Approved Documents) ‘can be ambiguous and inconsistent’.
n The processes that drive compliance with building safety requirements are ‘weak and complex, with poor record- keeping and change control in too many cases’.
n Competence across the system is ‘patchy’.
n The product testing, labelling, and marketing regime is ‘opaque and inconsistent’.
Lack of a coherent approach Drawing on Chapter 5, Appendix E of Building a Safer Future, Gareth Lloyd noted the conclusion that ‘The lack of a coherent and comprehensive approach to competence can seriously compromise fire safety’, and the resulting recommendations for: n ‘Appropriate, proportionate’ qualifications and experience.
n Professional bodies to take the lead. n Formal accreditation and redress for sub-standard service.
24 Health Estate Journal October 2018
Gareth Lloyd, Fire advisor at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Specialist Estates Services, focused on ‘The Dame Hackitt Review and the implications for healthcare fire safety’.
n The workforce should be ‘licensed’ to carry out specific roles.
n The establishment of a Competency Steering Group by the Construction Industry Council.
He added: “The Final Report made clear that it is vital that competence on fire safety is required throughout the whole chain of delivery – including in design, specification, procurement, installation, commissioning, regulators, maintenance, risk assessors, and end-users.” The Report recommends that the multidisciplinary Steering Group on Competences should include 11 ‘Working Groups’, among whose tasks should be to define: n Processes for agreeing and monitoring competence frameworks and accreditation/reaccreditation.
n The period within which competence should be reassessed.
n The method for demonstrating or proving competence.
n Whether the competence requirements for those working on HRRBs should also be extended to cover other buildings.
n A programme of fire and system safety CPD.
n Identifying exemplars from other sectors and internationally.
Fire Safety Technical Platform Gareth Lloyd noted the recent establishment of an IHEEM Fire Safety Technical Platform, and the development of both ‘a structured learning pathway’ for healthcare fire advisors, and plans for a sector-specific risk assessor register (one of the new Platform’s key initiatives). Indeed one of the Platform’s key concerns is the current lack of any formal register for fire risk assessors. Interestingly, in a recent IHEEM/NAHFO Fire Risk Assessor Registration survey, 85% of respondents agreed there was a need for a healthcare-specific registration scheme, and the Technical Platform is now developing a ‘business case/option appraisal’.
Looking at the next steps, Gareth Lloyd noted that Dame Judith Hackitt would be chairing a new Industry Safety Steering Group ‘tasked with holding industry to account for making cultural change happen’, while a public inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire, a police investigation, and ‘numerous consultations’ were still ongoing. Questions remained as to whether, in future, hospitals ‘could or should’ be considered ‘High Risk Buildings’, over revisions to Firecode, and over the potential reduction in the current 18 metre threshold for specific sectors, such as healthcare. Equally, Gareth Lloyd asked, “Should there be a greater focus on ‘materials of limited combustibility?’, ‘Should competency/registration be mandatory?’, ‘Is increased scrutiny needed on installation detailing?’, and ‘What of the argument for ‘as installed’ audits?’.”
The Grange University Hospital The afternoon session of the conference’s first day, chaired by Dr Mike Simmons, consultant in Public Health Microbiology at Public Health Wales, began with an update on the design and construction of the new Grange University Hospital at Llanfrechfa near Cwmbran, by David Leverton, Project technical lead at Laing O’Rourke, and his colleague, lead digital engineer, Katie Evans. The £350 million, 560-bed (including trolleys and cots), 55,000 m2
new-build hospital will provide
complex specialist and critical care treatment for over 600,000 people in South-East Wales, and include a 24-hour acute Assessment Unit and Emergency Department. As a key component of the ‘Clinical Futures’ strategy to modernise health services in the Health Board area, the new hospital was unveiled as part of an ambitious blueprint in 2004 by the former Trust and Local Health Boards in Gwent. A new specialist centre to treat the area’s sickest patients, the new hospital was seen as a means of separating emergency and specialist care from more routine care.
Cladding review in the light of recent events
David Leverton and Katie Evans provided an update on the hospital’s construction – it is scheduled for completion in autumn 2020, and to open to patients in spring 2021. One of their key focuses was a review involving Laing O’Rourke as main contractor, architects, BDP, and NHS Wales Shared Services, of the cladding on the new hospital, as a result of which a report looking at cladding materials was produced, and an enhanced specification subsequently agreed in February 2018. The presentation also highlighted the use of Laing O’Rourke’s ‘Design for manufacture & assembly’ approach to construction, major elements of which include extensive use of offsite-
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116