FOCUS
Future factors William Roszczyk covers talks at this year’s first RISCAuthority seminar, on topics such as drones, DNA marking and the switch to IP networks
A
T THE start of this latest event, RISCAuthority chairman and Axa technical director David Williams declared that he was ‘very
proud’ of the work undertaken by RISCAuthority and the FPA in the last year, and pointed to the ‘very relevant’ timetable of talks that were outlined for the day. The fi rst talk saw Professor Anna Stec of the
University of Central Lancashire explore the fi re toxicity of building products, which she described as ‘the elephant in the room coming out’. This ‘very important aspect’ of fi re ‘should be
taken seriously’, as most people die from gas inhalation in a fire due to effluents produced, with Professor Stec ‘trying to bring awareness’ of the risks by showing the number of fi re deaths and injuries caused by inhalation in the UK. She commented that this is an area ‘completely unregulated despite being the biggest fire killer’, with synthetic material and plastic use increasing and in turn increasing risks. She focused then on the heat release rate
of different materials, pointing out that this increased with plastic, while dwelling fi res with furniture containing polyurethane foam fi lling see hydrocyanide released. Other materials that emit toxic fumes include wood, PVC, and
40 JULY/AUGUST 2018
www.frmjournal.com
nylon carpets, all of which have a ‘huge infl uence’ on toxicity. While it was not possible to ‘control’ contents
of dwellings, the materials used in products and construction can be changed. The European Union (EU) had tried to put toxicity regulations into fire safety law but had been unable to provide enough evidence, though fi ve EU nations already have toxicity regulations within their laws. As a consequence of Grenfell, the EU is now redebating the issue. Common insulation products used include phenolic foam, rigid polyurethane foam, Styrofoam, stonewool and polyisocyanurate (PIR), and Professor Stec examined the toxic product yields of each in fires. Within 30 seconds, the chemicals emitting from many of these materials can cause disorientation and irritation, while two minutes in spreading smoke and a growing plume releases more gases, an underventilated room providing the ‘highest threat’. Phenolic foam produces a type of smoke
that the human body cannot easily break down, while rigid polyurethane foam emits three different gases, and PIR foam features more nitrogen, resulting in more smoke, and
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