FOCUS
Free to vent S
IDELAND’S PHIL Prosser, formerly a retail engineer at BAA, discussed the Heathrow Terminal 1 fire in December 1997, which began in
a Burger King when a fi re in the broiler – which cooks hamburgers via fat dripping on the element – travelled up vertical ductwork. It spread through the roof void, and the mineral felt
roof caught fi re. An Ansul system activated, chasing fi re up the ductwork, but didn’t put it out, and on the roof, the non insulated duct allowed the felt to ignite. The whole building would have been lost
had fi re services not put the fi re out on the roof: fortunately, a fi re membrane installed during reroofi ng stopped ingress. The airport experienced short term reputational damage before a fi ve year case to establish liability. An investigation found cleaning had been poorly executed, grease merely wiped and detergent dropped down vents. This hit the broiler, causing fl ames to enter the hood, and dripping grease started the fire. There was no interim inspection or quality control
measures, and the seat of fi re was under the hood, with the broiler’s heat being so intense that the hood shielded users from it – this meant someone would have needed to duck to spot the fi re. Ductwork was also found to be missing, and in
areas without cleaning access, there was liquid and solid grease. Terminal 1 was very important to the UK
46 MARCH 2018
www.frmjournal.com Laws and guides
FPA principal consultant Howard Passey studied regulations and guidance – stating that ‘all issues impact’ to create conditions for an incident, and outlining common causes. These include human error, poor housekeeping, combustible material controls, and failure in cooking equipment (specifi cally thermostats), gas equipment and extract ductwork. People ‘can forget to do all kinds of things’, while poor housekeeping usually results in a ‘lack of maintenance and testing’, Mr Passey,
The FPA hosted a seminar at the Fire Service College in January looking at commercial kitchen fire risks. William Roszczyk reports
economy, dealing with 70,000 passengers a day, and 300 fl ights were cancelled. With French and Dutch airspace closed, the overall cost was ‘incalculable’. The case ‘created a shift in every aspect of retail risk management at all BAA airports’, with a ‘never again’ approach taken, and it also ‘stopped a lack of joined up thinking’. Insurance companies settled the case, complicated by Burger King being a franchise, and BAA’s cleaning contractor not clearly being either general or specialist. Appointed to lead the implementation of retail
facilities management, Mr Prosser developed a mantra on risk: control, control, and eliminate, utilising this as he went on to build other airport restaurants.
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